Updated 2012-10-17 17:13:57 by LarrySmith ▲

Richard Suchenwirth - Again, this is not a book, just a page at the Tcler's Wiki. It has been discussed in c.l.t that Tcl's name is one of the factors that slow down its success. But Tcl since ever stands for "Tool Command language", so why not refer to it, marketingwise, as the "ToolCommand" language? "Tool" sounds like no-nonsense work; "Command" sounds like control - altogether a sober yet attractive name, while outsiders associate "Tickle" with non-serious, childish activities, and Tee-Cee-Ell-Tee-Kay sounds as impressive as TCP/IP.

Larry Smith sounds a little too "made up" but I like the idea. If I ever did Tcl/2 I was going to call it SAKI - Swiss Army Knife Interpreter. Maybe ToolDriver?

We know that Tcl programming is as easy as child's play; but what we make with it is serious tools in full command. Suddenly "Python" and "Perl" sound a little bit funny... "ToolCommander" could be the (marketing) name either for what we now call a Tcl'er, or a experimenting/learning tool that makes Tcl initiation even easier.

Were this a book, it might have the following chapters:

I thought this would be an argument for TCL having a funner name to attract a larger audience. However, I agree, rename it to TC, (teecee). TC sounds more serious, no-nonsense, and will hopefully communicate that TCL has outgrown many of its original drawbacks.

I, however, dont mind being "tcl'd"; indeed, I am "tclsh". :-;

Interesting idea that the name would be a show-stopper... But I have hard time beliving that. Here are few points, that came to my mind while reading this page:

ToolCommand (-er) has certain sound in its name. We have had Norton Commander and PCTools and this proposed name sounds a bit too much like those oldskool MS-DOS tools. Also TC has a meaning at least for me: Turbo C. So, it can be too easely referred to Borland products. Also, the name (ToolCommand) is too long. Notice Perl, Ruby, Java, C, C++, LISP and even VB. All of these have a short name (or acronym). No longer than four characters (yes, there area exceptions, Python for example).

I think that Tcl is a perfect acronym for a powerful language. Pronouncing it as Tickle is kind of funny, but in my ears Tee-Cee-Ell sounds really cool. Well, I think that TCP/IP is also a cool acronym... And Tcl is also a short name. Short is good.

But this is just my personal opinion, which I thought I'd like to make known. --mjk

Is Tcl different!Arts and crafts of Tcl-Tk programmingCategory Advocacy