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Tcl is an alien technology I wish I embraced when I was first exposed to it. I didn't quite get it, I was confused, so I gravitated towards Perl because it remi

Tcl is an alien technology I wish I embraced when I was first exposed to it. I didn't quite get it, I was confused, so I gravitated towards Perl because it reminded me of C somewhat. I wasn't aware of my cognitive blind spots. In many ways Tcl is more powerful than most implementations of Lisp. Like a Lisp crossed with a Forth with the ability to turn spheres inside out with no tearing during execution. Magic.

pmoriarty 7y ago
"In many ways Tcl is more powerful than most implementations of Lisp." Could you elaborate on this? In what ways is it more powerful? Also, I don't get what connection TCL has with Forth. They seem uttery different from each other to me.
- ithkuil 7y ago
  One thing those three languages have in common is that they are almost syntax-less. Each, in its own particular way, allows user defined code to process tokens of the program source before it gets to the core interpreter, allowing users to implement custom control structures and DSLs.
  - stjohnswarts 7y ago
    I've seen a lot of people compare it to Forth for DSL implementation
- dmux 7y ago
  You can delay evaluation of Tcl expressions, for one.
flavio81 7y ago
>turn spheres inside out with no tearing during execution. Magic. What does "turn spheres inside out" mean? >with no tearing Is this painful?
- McP 7y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphere_eversion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphere_eversion This video explains it very well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO61D9x6lNY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO61D9x6lNY
johnisgood 7y ago
You might wanna check out Factor: https://concatenative.org/wiki/view/Factor/FAQ/Why%3F https://concatenative.org/wiki/view/Factor/FAQ/Why%3F You probably will have to run the Listener and use its Browser to go through the documentation to see how awesome it is. That, or just look around here: https://gitweb.factorcode.org/gitweb.cgi?p=factor.git;a=tree;hb=HEAD https://gitweb.factorcode.org/gitweb.cgi?p=factor.git;a=tree...
- johnisgood 7y ago
  Oh and this is also a must read: http://factorcode.org/littledan/dls.pdf http://factorcode.org/littledan/dls.pdf The first link might give the wrong impression about Factor not being low-level, but it definitely can be if you want to; after all, its optimizing compiler is written in Factor itself!
silasdb 7y ago
Although I love Tcl and find it very powerful, it is not as powerful and flexible as Lisp languages. It doesn't have nested procs, closures, lambdas (although one can [eval] or use [apply]) and other functional stuff.

pmoriarty 7y ago

"In many ways Tcl is more powerful than most implementations of Lisp." Could you elaborate on this? In what ways is it more powerful? Also, I don't get what connection TCL has with Forth. They seem uttery different from each other to me.

ithkuil 7y ago
One thing those three languages have in common is that they are almost syntax-less. Each, in its own particular way, allows user defined code to process tokens of the program source before it gets to the core interpreter, allowing users to implement custom control structures and DSLs.
- stjohnswarts 7y ago
  I've seen a lot of people compare it to Forth for DSL implementation
dmux 7y ago
You can delay evaluation of Tcl expressions, for one.

flavio81 7y ago

>turn spheres inside out with no tearing during execution. Magic. What does "turn spheres inside out" mean? >with no tearing Is this painful?

McP 7y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphere_eversion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphere_eversion This video explains it very well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO61D9x6lNY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO61D9x6lNY

johnisgood 7y ago

You might wanna check out Factor: https://concatenative.org/wiki/view/Factor/FAQ/Why%3F https://concatenative.org/wiki/view/Factor/FAQ/Why%3F You probably will have to run the Listener and use its Browser to go through the documentation to see how awesome it is. That, or just look around here: https://gitweb.factorcode.org/gitweb.cgi?p=factor.git;a=tree;hb=HEAD https://gitweb.factorcode.org/gitweb.cgi?p=factor.git;a=tree...

johnisgood 7y ago
Oh and this is also a must read: http://factorcode.org/littledan/dls.pdf http://factorcode.org/littledan/dls.pdf The first link might give the wrong impression about Factor not being low-level, but it definitely can be if you want to; after all, its optimizing compiler is written in Factor itself!

silasdb 7y ago

Although I love Tcl and find it very powerful, it is not as powerful and flexible as Lisp languages. It doesn't have nested procs, closures, lambdas (although one can [eval] or use [apply]) and other functional stuff.