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Tcl is at the core of F5 (bigip)[0] and A10[1] network edge devices, tea leaf traffic monitoring [2], gnu gcc test suite[3], big finance tools[4], and very larg

by bch 6y ago

Tcl is at the core of F5 (bigip)[0] and A10[1] network edge devices, tea leaf traffic monitoring [2], gnu gcc test suite[3], big finance tools[4], and very large computer management [5], for starters. One could go on with examples of industrial and scientific controls, Hollywood gfx, and EDA (electronic design automation) that may have contributed to the design of whatever device you’re reading this with, etc, but it’d be a long list. It’s battle-hardened, which is important, but it’s also fun, which is important too. [0] https://devcentral.f5.com/s/articles/irules-concepts-tcl-the-how-and-why https://devcentral.f5.com/s/articles/irules-concepts-tcl-the... [1] https://www.a10networks.com/blog/aflex-tutorial/ https://www.a10networks.com/blog/aflex-tutorial/ [2] http://www-01.ibm.com/software/info/tealeaf/ http://www-01.ibm.com/software/info/tealeaf/ [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DejaGnu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DejaGnu [4] https://www.fidessa.com/products/training/training-courses https://www.fidessa.com/products/training/training-courses [5] https://www.mcs.anl.gov/~wozniak/papers/Swift_Tcl_slides_2015.pptx https://www.mcs.anl.gov/~wozniak/papers/Swift_Tcl_slides_201...

blacksqr 6y ago
Nuclear power plant management... [0] Embedded medical device software ... [1] i.e., when the consequences of failure are just too great, a lot of people don't dare pass up Tcl. [0] https://wiki.tcl-lang.org/page/COMPANY%3A+KKG https://wiki.tcl-lang.org/page/COMPANY%3A+KKG [1] https://www.incubelabs.com/ https://www.incubelabs.com/
- andi999 6y ago
  It was the visualization of the simulator... consequence of failure doesnt seem too great. Btw how does tcl allocate memory? (So is it real time compliant?)
  - blacksqr 6y ago
    Note the bottom of the linked page where the author says they use Tcl/Tk for all their interfaces. Also interesting that you think flaws in the tool you use to learn to run a nuclear power plant are no big deal.
tssva 6y ago
Creating iRules for F5 BigIP has been my only experience using TCL and that in itself turned me off of it which really isn't fair because having to create complex iRules would have turned me off whatever language they might have been implemented in. Also to be fair if you are implementing complex iRules you are doing something wrong but sometimes fixing things where they should be is beyond your control. Speaking of lesser used languages still used for specific domains, is REXX still used commonly for voice response systems? It was last time I had to deal with one around 2006.
- the_af 6y ago
  Haha, I was going to write the same. Writing iRules for F5 BigIp has made me hate Tcl, but honestly I'm not sure the real culprit isn't BigIp's terrible, clunky UI. I don't know why they chose such a brittle, error prone language for writing something where making a mistake can have dire consequences. (I see someone else mentioned Tcl is used for Nuclear Power Plant simulators? Ouch!)

by bch 6y ago

blacksqr 6y ago

Nuclear power plant management... [0] Embedded medical device software ... [1] i.e., when the consequences of failure are just too great, a lot of people don't dare pass up Tcl. [0] https://wiki.tcl-lang.org/page/COMPANY%3A+KKG https://wiki.tcl-lang.org/page/COMPANY%3A+KKG [1] https://www.incubelabs.com/ https://www.incubelabs.com/

andi999 6y ago
It was the visualization of the simulator... consequence of failure doesnt seem too great. Btw how does tcl allocate memory? (So is it real time compliant?)
- blacksqr 6y ago
  Note the bottom of the linked page where the author says they use Tcl/Tk for all their interfaces. Also interesting that you think flaws in the tool you use to learn to run a nuclear power plant are no big deal.

tssva 6y ago

Creating iRules for F5 BigIP has been my only experience using TCL and that in itself turned me off of it which really isn't fair because having to create complex iRules would have turned me off whatever language they might have been implemented in. Also to be fair if you are implementing complex iRules you are doing something wrong but sometimes fixing things where they should be is beyond your control. Speaking of lesser used languages still used for specific domains, is REXX still used commonly for voice response systems? It was last time I had to deal with one around 2006.

the_af 6y ago
Haha, I was going to write the same. Writing iRules for F5 BigIp has made me hate Tcl, but honestly I'm not sure the real culprit isn't BigIp's terrible, clunky UI. I don't know why they chose such a brittle, error prone language for writing something where making a mistake can have dire consequences. (I see someone else mentioned Tcl is used for Nuclear Power Plant simulators? Ouch!)