Re: What are the relative advantages of Python and Tcl?

Ty Sarna (tsarna@endicor.com)
11 Apr 94 01:59:57 GMT

In article <JANSSEN.94Apr8171536@holmes.parc.xerox.com> janssen@holmes.PARC.Xerox.Com (Bill Janssen) writes:
> I presume that Ty is just being sarcastic in a very smooth way.

Not at all.

> Tcl is neither easier or harder to embed than any other similar
> scripting language (GNU Elisp or Python or ELK, for instance),

It depends on the application. If what you're trying to embed in works
in terms of text, Tcl is dead simple to embed. No reference counts, no
objects, no worrying about type mismatches, etc. Tcl only does strings.

Now, if you're interfacing with complex objects, python may embed more
easily.

> so far as I can see. But it was the reference to
>
> "...Tcl's clean syntax..."
>
> that made me realize Ty's April 2nd message should have been sent a
> day earlier.

Tcl does have a clean syntax, compared to Perl particularly. In fact,
Tcl has very little in the way of syntax, so it'd be hard to make it
otherwise. Same with LISP, Postscript, FORTH, etc -- the syntax is very
simple and regular. You may not like some or all of them (and I sure
don't like LISP), but they're definately simple and clean.

(and I still rate Tcl's ability to add syntax as one of it's best
features. If you don't need that, you're obviously not going to see much
advantage in it. If you do, it's one of youre' only choices)

-- 
Ty Sarna                 "As you know, Joel, children have always looked
tsarna@endicor.com        up to cowboys as role models. And vice versa."