Jun 28, 2000

Released version 2.0. This is the latest stable release and includes support for Windows platforms!
Tclpp 2.0 is now available under the LGPL licensing scheme.

Feb 14, 2000

Released beta version 2.0b2. This release fixes some inheritance bugs and adds an installation procedure. Note that this is currently a unix-only version.

Sep 17, 1999

Released version 2.0b1. This redesign in 'C' is released for evaluation only. Anyone is welcome to test it and to send all inconsistencies and bugs.
Note that this is currently a unix-only version. The final release will include windows.

Aug 05, 1998

Released version 1.2 which contains support for nested classes and dynamic allocation (new and delete commands); Tcl package facility for better version control; MS-Windows release.

May 19, 1998

Released version 1.1.1 which contains patches to solve accessibility problems with inherited variables and argument passing at constructor level.

April 21, 1998

Released version 1.1 which changes the name of Tcl++ into Tclpp, to avoid name clashes with another package with the same name.

April 20, 1998

Released version 1.0 for public use. This version contains the basic object oriented principles such as (multiple) inheritance, virtual functions and RTTI.

 

Q4 2000

Release 2.1 with initial thread support.

 

A scripting language is often used for creating a (graphical) user interface shell around one or more applications. Tcl  is such a scripting language which enables you to create both a textual and a graphical interface (with the Tk extension). It becomes more and more popular, not only for simple applications, but for commercial applications as well. Mainly because of its small turn-around development time and multiple platform support.

But nowadays, object oriented programming (like SmallTalk and C++) is increasingly overtaking the original procedural programming (like Pascal and C). Tcl is still based on procedural programming, but with the introduction of the namespace concept, it is possible to give Tcl/Tk applications a more object oriented look and feel.

It is a good approach to add object oriented programming concepts to Tcl, mainly because it makes large and complex scripts more readable, maintainable and it simplifies code reuse. Certainly in these days where the user requires a sophisticated user interface, these Tcl scripts become large and complex.

The extension described here goes beyond the namespace facility already provided by Tcl, by introducing even more object oriented concepts like a class & object mechanism, inheritance, virtual functions and run-time type information. The extension used to be written in Tcl itself, but due to constraints on extensibility it was decided to rewrite it in C from release 2.0 onwards. The Tcl-only solution (version 1.2) remains supported for an unknown period of time.

The manual as distributed with the package is also available online. It is divided into two parts: a user manual and a reference manual.

The user manual explains the various features of Tclpp with some simple but informative examples.

The reference manual is as complete as possible, listing all the possibilities, traps and limitations of the Tclpp package.

Tclpp requires Tcl/Tk version 8.0 or later. Tcl/Tk can be downloaded at

www.ajubasolutions.com (former Scriptics)

and is mirrored at various sites as well.

To compile Tclpp, a C-compiler (preferable the GNU compiler which has been used for the development as well) is required as well as the Tcl/Tk sources which can be downloaded at the Scriptics site as well.

The latest release (version 2.0) of Tclpp can be downloaded now:

Unix

The Unix distribution as tar-gzipped source tclpp20src.tgz

Windows

The MS-Windows binary distribution (requires Tcl/Tk 8.3) tclpp20bin.zip

The MS-Windows source distribution tclpp20src.zip

Please read the README and INSTALL files before configuring and installing this package.

Tclpp is distributed under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License. If you use this package, you have agreed with the contents of the license. A copy of this license is included in the distribution.

Tclpp has been designed and implemented by Stefan Sinnige. He can be reached at

ssinnige@geocities.com

for any comments and expressions of thanks. Most of the development has been performed on my PC running RedHat Linux in the few spare hours I had.

The mailing list keeps you informed about the latest developments. Please use the links below to add your e-mail address to the list or to remove it from the subscription list.

Subscribe	(or send mail with subscribe-tclpp as subject).
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If you find any bug or want to see a new feature in the next release, please contact me via e-mail (ssinnige@geocties.com). I will try to attend to your bug reports as soon as possible.

The following list shows some related sites. If you wish that your site should be added, or if you know about an interesting related site, please contact me.

Official Tcl/Tk site.