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diff --git a/tcl.html.markdown b/tcl.html.markdown new file mode 100755 index 00000000..f2d92fcd --- /dev/null +++ b/tcl.html.markdown @@ -0,0 +1,447 @@ +--- +language: Tcl +contributors: + - ["Poor Yorick", "http://pooryorick.com/"] +filename: learntcl.tcl +--- + +Tcl was created by [John Ousterhout](http://wiki.tcl.tk/John Ousterout) as a +reusable scripting language for chip design tools he was creating. In 1997 he +was awarded the [ACM Software System +Award](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACM_Software_System_Award) for Tcl. Tcl +can be used both as an embeddable scripting language and as a general +programming language. It can also be used as a portable C library, even in +cases where no scripting capability is needed, as it provides data structures +such as dynamic strings, lists, and hash tables. The C library also provides +portable functionality for loading dynamic libraries, string formatting and +code conversion, filesystem operations, network operations, and more. +Various features of Tcl stand out: + +* Convenient cross-platform networking API + +* Fully virtualized filesystem + +* Stackable I/O channels + +* Asynchronous to the core + +* Full coroutines + +* A threading model recognized as robust and easy to use + + +If Lisp is a list processor, then Tcl is a string processor. All values are +strings. A list is a string format. A procedure definition is a string +format. To achieve performance, Tcl internally caches structured +representations of these values. The list commands, for example, operate on +the internal cached representation, and Tcl takes care of updating the string +representation if it is ever actually needed in the script. The copy-on-write +design of Tcl allows script authors can pass around large data values without +actually incurring additional memory overhead. Procedures are automatically +byte-compiled unless they use the more dynamic commands such as "uplevel", +"upvar", and "trace". + +Tcl is a pleasure to program in. It will appeal to hacker types who find Lisp, +Forth, or Smalltalk interesting, as well as to engineers and scientists who +just want to get down to business with a tool that bends to their will. Its +discipline of exposing all programmatic functionality as commands, including +things like loops and mathematical operations that are usually baked into the +syntax of other languages, allows it to fade into the background of whatever +domain-specific functionality a project needs. It's syntax, which is even +lighter that that of Lisp, just gets out of the way. + + + + + +```tcl +#! /bin/env tclsh + +################################################################################ +## 1. Guidelines +################################################################################ + +# Tcl is not Bash or C! This needs to be said because standard shell quoting +# habits almost work in Tcl and it is common for people to pick up Tcl and try +# to get by with syntax they know from another language. It works at first, +# but soon leads to frustration with more complex scripts. + +# Braces are just a quoting mechanism, not a code block constructor or a list +# constructor. Tcl doesn't have either of those things. Braces are used, +# though, to escape special characters in procedure bodies and in strings that +# are formatted as lists. + + +################################################################################ +## 2. Syntax +################################################################################ + +# Every line is a command. The first word is the name of the command, and +# subsequent words are arguments to the command. Words are delimited by +# whitespace. Since every word is a string, in the simple case no special +# markup such as quotes, braces, or backslash, is necessary. Even when quotes +# are used, they are not a string constructor, but just another escaping +# character. + +set greeting1 Sal +set greeting2 ut +set greeting3 ations + + +#semicolon also delimits commands +set greeting1 Sal; set greeting2 ut; set greeting3 ations + + +# Dollar sign introduces variable substitution +set greeting $greeting1$greeting2$greeting3 + + +# Bracket introduces command substitution. The result of the command is +# substituted in place of the bracketed script. When the "set" command is +# given only the name of a variable, it returns the value of that variable. +set greeting $greeting1$greeting2[set greeting3] + + +# Command substitution should really be called script substitution, because an +# entire script, not just a command, can be placed between the brackets. The +# "incr" command increments the value of a variable and returns its value. +set greeting $greeting[ + incr i + incr i + incr i +] + + +# backslash suppresses the special meaning of characters +set amount \$16.42 + + +# backslash adds special meaning to certain characters +puts lots\nof\n\n\n\n\n\nnewlines + + +# A word enclosed in braces is not subject to any special interpretation or +# substitutions, except that a backslash before a brace is not counted when look#ing for the closing brace +set somevar { + This is a literal $ sign, and this \} escaped + brace remains uninterpreted +} + + +# In a word enclosed in double quotes, whitespace characters lose their special +# meaning +set name Neo +set greeting "Hello, $name" + + +#variable names can be any string +set {first name} New + + +# The brace form of variable substitution handles more complex variable names +set greeting "Hello, ${first name}" + + +# The "set" command can always be used instead of variable substitution +set greeting "Hello, [set {first name}]" + + +# To promote the words within a word to individual words of the current +# command, use the expansion operator, "{*}". +set {*}{name Neo} + +# is equivalent to +set name Neo + + +# An array is a special variable that is a container for other variables. +set person(name) Neo +set person(gender) male +set greeting "Hello, $person(name)" + + +# A namespace holds commands and variables +namespace eval people { + namespace eval person1 { + set name Neo + } +} + + +#The full name of a variable includes its enclosing namespace(s), delimited by two colons: +set greeting "Hello $people::person::name" + + + +################################################################################ +## 3. A Few Notes +################################################################################ + +# All other functionality is implemented via commands. From this point on, +# there is no new syntax. Everything else there is to learn about Tcl is about +# the behaviour of individual commands, and what meaning they assign to their +# arguments. + + +# To end up with an interpreter that can do nothing, delete the global +# namespace. It's not very useful to do such a thing, but it illustrates the +# nature of Tcl. +namespace delete :: + + +# Because of name resolution behaviour, its safer to use the "variable" command to declare or to assign a value to a namespace. +namespace eval people { + namespace eval person1 { + variable name Neo + } +} + + +# The full name of a variable can always be used, if desired. +set people::person1::name Neo + + + +################################################################################ +## 4. Commands +################################################################################ + +# Math can be done with the "expr" command. +set a 3 +set b 4 +set c [expr {$a + $b}] + +# Since "expr" performs variable substitution on its own, brace the expression +# to prevent Tcl from performing variable substitution first. See +# "http://wiki.tcl.tk/Brace%20your%20#%20expr-essions" for details. + + +# The "expr" command understands variable and command substitution +set c [expr {$a + [set b]}] + + +# The "expr" command provides a set of mathematical functions +set c [expr {pow($a,$b)}] + + +# Mathematical operators are available as commands in the ::tcl::mathop +# namespace +::tcl::mathop::+ 5 3 + +# Commands can be imported from other namespaces +namespace import ::tcl::mathop::+ +set result [+ 5 3] + + +# New commands can be created via the "proc" command. +proc greet name { + return "Hello, $name!" +} + +#multiple parameters can be specified +proc greet {greeting name} { + return "$greeting, $name!" +} + + +# As noted earlier, braces do not construct a code block. Every value, even +# the third argument of the "proc" command, is a string. The previous command +# rewritten to not use braces at all: +proc greet greeting\ name return\ \"Hello,\ \$name! + + + +# When the last parameter is the literal value, "args", it collects all extra +# arguments when the command is invoked +proc fold {cmd args} { + set res 0 + foreach arg $args { + set res [cmd $res $arg] + } +} +fold ::tcl::mathop::* 5 3 3 ;# -> 45 + + +# Conditional execution is implemented as a command +if {3 > 4} { + puts {This will never happen} +} elseif {4 > 4} { + puts {This will also never happen} +} else { + puts {This will always happen} +} + + +# Loops are implemented as commands. The first, second, and third +# arguments of the "for" command are treated as mathematical expressions +for {set i 0} {$i < 10} {incr i} { + set res [expr {$res + $i}] +} + + +# The first argument of the "while" command is also treated as a mathematical +# expression +set i 0 +while {$i < 10} { + incr i 2 +} + + +# A list is a specially-formatted string. In the simple case, whitespace is sufficient to delimit values +set amounts 10\ 33\ 18 +set amount [lindex $amounts 1] + + +# Braces and backslash can be used to format more complex values in a list. A +# list looks exactly like a script, except that the newline character and the +# semicolon character lose their special meanings. This feature makes Tcl +# homoiconic. There are three items in the following list. +set values { + + one\ two + + {three four} + + five\{six + +} + + +# Since a list is a string, string operations could be performed on it, at the +# risk of corrupting the formatting of the list. +set values {one two three four} +set values [string map {two \{} $values] ;# $values is no-longer a \ + properly-formatted listwell-formed list + + +# The sure-fire way to get a properly-formmated list is to use "list" commands +set values [list one \{ three four] +lappend values { } ;# add a single space as an item in the list + + +# Use "eval" to evaluate a value as a script +eval { + set name Neo + set greeting "Hello, $name" +} + + +# A list can always be passed to "eval" as a script composed of a single +# command. +eval {set name Neo} +eval [list set greeting "Hello, $name"] + + +# Therefore, when using "eval", use [list] to build up a desired command +set command {set name} +lappend command {Archibald Sorbisol} +eval $command + + +# A common mistake is not to use list functions when building up a command +set command {set name} +append command { Archibald Sorbisol} +eval $command ;# There is an error here, because there are too many arguments \ + to "set" in {set name Archibald Sorbisol} + + +# This mistake can easily occur with the "subst" command. +set replacement {Archibald Sorbisol} +set command {set name $replacement} +set command [subst $command] +eval $command ;# The same error as before: to many arguments to "set" in \ + {set name Archibald Sorbisol} + + +# The proper way is to format the substituted value using use the "list" +# command. +set replacement [list {Archibald Sorbisol}] +set command {set name $replacement} +set command [subst $command] +eval $command + + +# It is extremely common to see the "list" command being used to properly +# format values that are substituted into Tcl script templates. There are +# several examples of this, below. + + +# The "apply" command evaluates a string as a command. +set cmd {{greeting name} { + return "$greeting, $name!" +}} +apply $cmd Whaddup Neo + + +# The "uplevel" command evaluates a script in some enclosing scope. +proc greet {} { + uplevel {puts "$greeting, $name"} +} + +proc set_double {varname value} { + if {[string is double $value]} { + uplevel [list variable $varname $value] + } else { + error [list {not a double} $value] + } +} + + +# The "upvar" command links a variable in the current scope to a variable in +# some enclosing scope +proc set_double {varname value} { + if {[string is double $value]} { + upvar 1 $varname var + set var $value + } else { + error [list {not a double} $value] + } +} + + +#get rid of the built-in "while" command. +rename ::while {} + + +# Define a new while command with the "proc" command. More sophisticated error +# handling is left as an exercise. +proc while {condition script} { + if {[uplevel 1 [list expr $condition]]} { + uplevel 1 $script + tailcall [namespace which while] $condition $script + } +} + + +# The "coroutine" command creates a separate call stack, along with a command +# to enter that call stack. The "yield" command suspends execution in that +# stack. +proc countdown {} { + #send something back to the initial "coroutine" command + yield + + set count 3 + while {$count > 1} { + yield [incr count -1] + } + return 0 +} +coroutine countdown1 countdown +coroutine countdown2 countdown +puts [countdown 1] ;# -> 2 +puts [countdown 2] ;# -> 2 +puts [countdown 1] ;# -> 1 +puts [countdown 1] ;# -> 0 +puts [coundown 1] ;# -> invalid command name "countdown1" +puts [countdown 2] ;# -> 1 + + +``` + +## Reference + +[Official Tcl Documentation](http://www.tcl.tk/man/tcl/) + +[Tcl Wiki](http://wiki.tcl.tk) + +[Tcl Subreddit](http://www.reddit.com/r/Tcl) |