[TCLCORE] TIP Roundup

[Donal K. F. <don...@ma...>]

Hi everyone...

I've got a list of all the open TIPs that can target 8.6 still here.
I'll categorize them in ways that I think are fairly natural. Note that
the High/Medium/Low classification is entirely my opinion, but is based
on my opinion of what is practical and/or important.

Accepted and needing implementation
———————————————————————————————————
   TIP #119	Angled Text on a Canvas
	I've almost got an implementation of this.
   TIP #141	Multiple Initial-Files in [tk_getOpenFile]
	What was the problem with this one again? Was it Windows being a
	PITA?
   TIP #150	Implement the Tk send Command for Windows
	This would be simultaneously "nice" and "scary". Does the latter
	outweigh the former, and if so, should we Withdraw this TIP?

High Priority and demanding of real effort
——————————————————————————————————————————
   TIP #162	IPv6 Sockets for Tcl
   TIP #171	Change Default <MouseWheel> Bindings Behavior
   TIP #180	Add a Megawidget Support Core Package
   TIP #197	Text Widget Persistant Cursor
   TIP #210	Add 'tempname' Subcommand to 'file'
   TIP #234	Add Support For Zlib Compression
   TIP #238	Fire Event when Widget Created
   TIP #244	PNG Photo Image Support for Tk
   TIP #281	Improvements in System Error Handling
   TIP #284	New 'invoke' and 'namespace invoke' Commands
   TIP #306	Auto-Naming Widgets
   TIP #307	Make TclTransferResult() Public
   TIP #329	Try/Catch/Finally syntax
   TIP #335	Controlled Interpreter Deletion via Tcl_InterpActive
   TIP #336	Supported Access To interp->errorline
   TIP #337	Make TclBackgroundException() Public
   TIP #338	Embedder Access to Startup Scripts of *_Main()

Medium Priority and in search of a champion
———————————————————————————————————————————
   TIP #86 	Improved Debugger Support
   TIP #106	Add Encoding Abilities to the [dde] Command
   TIP #154	Add Named Colors to Tk
   TIP #160	Improvements to Terminal and Serial Channel Handling
   TIP #164	Add Rotate Subcommand to the Canvas Widget
   TIP #166	Reading and Writing the Photo Image Alpha Channel
   TIP #167	Add a New Option for Context Help for Windows
   TIP #186	Expose the Type and Modified-State of Widget Options
   TIP #198	Image Command XPM Extension
   TIP #225	Arithmetic Series with Optimized Space Complexity
   TIP #228	Tcl Filesystem Reflection API
   TIP #239	Enhance the 'load' Command
   TIP #240	An Ensemble Command to Manage Processes
   TIP #243	Supply Find Dialog for the Text Widget
   TIP #246	Unify Pattern Matching
   TIP #259	Making 'exec' Optionally Binary Safe
   TIP #262	Background Images for Frames
   TIP #276	Specify and Unify Variable Linking Commands
   TIP #277	Create Namespaces as Needed
   TIP #278	Fix Variable Name Resolution Quirks
   TIP #279	Adding an Extensible Object System to the Core
   TIP #282	Enhanced Expression Syntax
   TIP #283	Modify Ensemble Command Resolution Behaviour
   TIP #295	Enhance Arguments to lrange
   TIP #297	Integer Type Introspection and Conversion
   TIP #302	Fix "after"'s Sensitivity To Adjustments Of System Clock
   TIP #309	Expose the Expression Parsing
   TIP #322	Publish the NRE API
   TIP #324	A Standard Dialog For Font Selection
   TIP #325	System Tray Access
   TIP #332	Half-Close for Bidirectional Channels
   TIP #333	New Variable and Namespace Resolving Interface

Low Priority and in search of someone who cares
———————————————————————————————————————————————
   TIP #133	Extending [expr] Operators
   TIP #170	Better Support for Nested Lists
   TIP #193	Simple Syntax Help System
   TIP #220	Escalate Privileges in VFS Close Callback
   TIP #224	Add New [array] Subcommands 'incr' and 'value'
   TIP #253	Consolidate Package-Related Commands
   TIP #288	Allow "args" Anywhere in Procedure Formal Arguments
   TIP #290	Registration of Custom Error Handler Scripts
   TIP #292	Allow Unquoted Strings in Expressions
   TIP #296	Enhanced Syntax for Pair-Wise Indices
   TIP #303	Enhance 'llength' Command to Support Nested Lists
   TIP #312	Add More Link Types

Probable Bad Ideas likely to get rejected
—————————————————————————————————————————
   TIP #178	[info pid] and [info tid] Subcommands
	Cannot be made portable, ever.
   TIP #214	Add New Object Introspection Command
	API is wrong. Functionality is dodgy. Perhaps something along
	these lines could go in tcl::unsupported
   TIP #216	Handling Command-Line Options in Tclsh and Wish
	Better to have other executables for this sort of thing
   TIP #271	Windows-Style Open and Save File Dialog on Unix
	Doesn't need a TIP; just needs someone to spruce up the patch,
	remove the API changes, and apply it. (The API can't change as
	it is limited by what we can hack into the Windows side of
	things.)
   TIP #319	Implement Backwards Compatibility for ttk Themed Widgets
		in tk Widgets
	I think this is a bad idea from the off; Ttk widgets aren't the
	classic Tk widgets. (Better would be making sure that people
	distributing Tk on Unix had high quality native themes for
	Ttk so as to discourage this sort of thing...)

Too new for me to have formed an opinion about!
———————————————————————————————————————————————
   TIP #339	Case-Insensitive Package Names
   TIP #340	Const Qualification of Tcl_SetResult's Argument and
		-Wwrite-strings

Well, that's about it. I make that out to be 1 real Accepted (2 sliding
towards Withdrawn) and 17 strong candidates for Acceptance for 8.6. Any
and all discussion welcome.

Donal.