[tcltk-perl] RE: Tcl-Tk-0.77

[Jeff H. <je...@Ac...>]

Robert Hicks wrote:
> Saw the module on CPAN. My question is why not? Why doesn't
> the Perl community use that module to interface with Tk since
> it allows you to stay up-to-date with Tk itself?

Robert,

Perl/Tk and Perl's Tcl::Tk module have both been around for a
while, but Perl/Tk was more complete at first, offering a
simpler fully itegrated solution.  At this point for Tcl::Tk
you are still required to have a local Tcl/Tk installation to
build (this may be addressed with companion modules later).

At a technical level, Tcl::Tk wasn't all that spectacular
because it stayed 100% with the string-based interfaces that
Tcl has had for over a decade.  Only in the last couple of
weeks has Tcl::Tk been transformed with a pure SV <> Tcl_Obj
bridge.  In an app we test on locally (a few thousand lines
of code just for the app), we have seen 15% lower (better)
memory usage and snappier performance than the original
Perl/Tk version.

In addition to that, by alleviating the need to maintain the
specialized port of Tk for Perl (where Tcl is partially
ripped out), we are able to fully leverage platform
portability better.  Vadim uses this on Win/CE, and you
could also use this on OS X with Tcl/Tk's native Aqua port.
Feature level portability also must be noted.  The app we had
used Tk->fileevent on unix - but that's never been ported to
Windows for Perl/Tk, although Tcl has had fileevents on
Windows for *7* years.  Using Tcl::Tk we were able to
abstract this easily using the Tcl fileevent in a way that a
Perl programmer can still find friendly.

All this new development is very recent though.  The point
isn't to bury Perl/Tk, as Nick has done an excellent job
maintaining that over the years.  The point is to provide an
architectural replacement to make it easier to maintain in
the years to come.  Perl/Tk compatability in Tcl::Tk has a
lot until it's near complete.  If you want to build UIs from
scratch though, it's all there ready to use.

Regards,

  Jeff Hobbs, The Tcl Guy
  http://www.ActiveState.com/, a division of Sophos