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Review:Tcl/Tk in a Nutshell
Despite his long turnaround time, I still have not yet killed CowboyNeal for his long-delayed review of Jeff Tranter and Paul Raines' Tcl/Tk in a Nutshell. Part of the well known O'Reilly Nutshell series, this is a great book for those getting seriously into Tcl/Tk, or those who need a desktop reference. Click below for more information.
Tcl/Tk in a Nutshell
author
Paul Raines & Jeff Tranter
pages
?
publisher
O'Reilly and Associates
rating
7/10
reviewer
CowboyNeal
ISBN
summary
Not for beginners, this book makes a wonderful desktop reference.
Rating: 7/10 What's Good? Being another book in the "nutshell" series, it's no surprise that this book contains all the commonly used commands in Tcl/Tk. Designed to sit on your desktop and help you look up those commands you forgot, this book is a weclome aid to any forgetful Tcl/Tk programmer. Each description has just enough to help one remember the command, without going too in-depth. Each section is devoted to the most oft-used Tcl/Tk tools, such as Expect and [incr Tcl]. The chapters covering the C interfaces use the same style as Java in a Nutshell's class reference, simply listing the function name, it's arguments, and the argument types. While not the best instructional aid, if you already know the function, it's just enough to remind you of how to use it. I really liked the compactness and simplicity of this in previous "nutshell" books, and I like it here as well. When covering some of the extentions of Tcl/Tk (Tix, for example), longer, more in-depth explanatations of each option and/or argument are given, as many people may not have used Tix before. Chapter 15, "Hints and Tips for the Tcl Programmer," is particularly useful, as it contains many "gotchas," the "Tcl way" of doing things, and things that might confuse beginning Tcl/Tk programmers (such as Tcl's parsing), and even a few things that Tcl/Tk gurus may want to brush up on. What's Bad? What I like about some "nutshell" books is that they often provide enough background for one to learn the language that is the subject of the book and begin programming in it. An example of this "Java in a Nutshell", one of my favorites. This book, however, assumes the reader is already a competent Tcl/Tk programmer, and makes no attempts to give an introduction to Tcl or Tk. I read this book in the hopes of picking up Tcl/Tk, but unfortunately it was not written to teach. When I do learn Tcl/Tk, however, I'll have a valuable resource handy to assist me in my coding. Some of the Tcl/Tk tools covered may not be used by everyone (such as Tclodbc), which may make some people as if some parts of the book will go unused. I found that if one uses only the core Tcl/Tk commands, then the majority of the book won't even aid you, as it is aimed at Tcl/Tk extensions. What else is bad? In all seriousness, I couldn't even nitpick further. For a desktop Tcl/Tk reference, this one is tough to beat. I even found myself liking the index. Who should buy this book? If you already know Tcl/Tk, then this book will be a great aid, especially of you use extensions, such as Oratcl or [incr Tcl], then this book will be a great help in remembering the commmands you don't use often, but need to get a quick synopsis of. If you're looking to learn Tcl/Tk, I wouldn't recommend this book, as it doesn't got into a great amount of detail. It would probably help one who hasn't written Tcl/Tk in a while, and is feeling a little rusty get back up to speed quickly.
Rating: 7/10 What's Good? Being another book in the "nutshell" series, it's no surprise that this book contains all the commonly used commands in Tcl/Tk. Designed to sit on your desktop and help you look up those commands you forgot, this book is a weclome aid to any forgetful Tcl/Tk programmer. Each description has just enough to help one remember the command, without going too in-depth. Each section is devoted to the most oft-used Tcl/Tk tools, such as Expect and [incr Tcl]. The chapters covering the C interfaces use the same style as Java in a Nutshell's class reference, simply listing the function name, it's arguments, and the argument types. While not the best instructional aid, if you already know the function, it's just enough to remind you of how to use it. I really liked the compactness and simplicity of this in previous "nutshell" books, and I like it here as well. When covering some of the extentions of Tcl/Tk (Tix, for example), longer, more in-depth explanatations of each option and/or argument are given, as many people may not have used Tix before. Chapter 15, "Hints and Tips for the Tcl Programmer," is particularly useful, as it contains many "gotchas," the "Tcl way" of doing things, and things that might confuse beginning Tcl/Tk programmers (such as Tcl's parsing), and even a few things that Tcl/Tk gurus may want to brush up on. What's Bad? What I like about some "nutshell" books is that they often provide enough background for one to learn the language that is the subject of the book and begin programming in it. An example of this "Java in a Nutshell", one of my favorites. This book, however, assumes the reader is already a competent Tcl/Tk programmer, and makes no attempts to give an introduction to Tcl or Tk. I read this book in the hopes of picking up Tcl/Tk, but unfortunately it was not written to teach. When I do learn Tcl/Tk, however, I'll have a valuable resource handy to assist me in my coding. Some of the Tcl/Tk tools covered may not be used by everyone (such as Tclodbc), which may make some people as if some parts of the book will go unused. I found that if one uses only the core Tcl/Tk commands, then the majority of the book won't even aid you, as it is aimed at Tcl/Tk extensions. What else is bad? In all seriousness, I couldn't even nitpick further. For a desktop Tcl/Tk reference, this one is tough to beat. I even found myself liking the index. Who should buy this book? If you already know Tcl/Tk, then this book will be a great aid, especially of you use extensions, such as Oratcl or [incr Tcl], then this book will be a great help in remembering the commmands you don't use often, but need to get a quick synopsis of. If you're looking to learn Tcl/Tk, I wouldn't recommend this book, as it doesn't got into a great amount of detail. It would probably help one who hasn't written Tcl/Tk in a while, and is feeling a little rusty get back up to speed quickly.
You can pick it up at Amazon.
Table of Contents
Preface
- Introduction
- Tcl Core Commands
- Tk Core Commands
- The Tcl C Interface
- The Tk C Interface
- Expect
- [incr Tcl]
- [incr Tk]
- Tix
- TclX
- BLT
- Oratcl
- Sybtcl
- Tclodbc
- Hints and Tips for the Tcl Programmer
Appendix - Tcl Resources
Index
Add Nortel Networks to that list. I work for them; coding in Tcl/Tk is a major part of my job.
(Standard disclaimer: I do not speak officially for Nortel Networks)