Programming Books

4 Excellent Free Books to Learn Tcl

Last Updated on November 13, 2022

Tcl (Tool Command Language) is a dynamic programming/scripting language based on concepts of Lisp, C, and Unix shells. It can be used interactively, or by running scripts (programs) which can use a package system for structuring, hence allowing to do much with little code.

The name Tcl is derived from “Tool Command Language” and is pronounced “tickle”. Tcl is a radically simple open-source interpreted programming language that provides common facilities such as variables, procedures, and control structures as well as many useful features that are not found in any other major language.

Tcl was created in 1988 by John Ousterhout and is distributed under a BSD style license. The first major GUI extension that works with Tcl is Tk, a toolkit that aims to rapid GUI development. That is why Tcl is now more commonly called Tcl/Tk.

Tcl is available for Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, as well as other platforms, as open-source software under BSD-like license, or as pre-built binaries.

Here’s our recommended free books that’ll help you master Tcl.


1. Practical Programming in Tcl and Tk by Brent Welch, Ken Jones

Practical Programming in Tcl and TkThe authors provide sample chapters available to download for free.

Note the complete book is not available to download for free.

Topics covered: The Tcl programming language and the Tk toolkit on which it most usually operates.

Sections cover basic and advance programming techniques, specific aspects of Tk widgets, and extending the C library that defines Tcl.

There are copious examples which make it easier to understand (and quickly employ) effective design strategies.

Read the chapters


2. Tcl and the Tk Toolkit by John K. Ousterhout

Tcl and the Tk ToolkitThis book is about two packages called Tcl and Tk. Together they provide a programming system for developing and using graphical user interface (GUI) applications. Tcl stands for “tool command language” and is pronounced “tickle”; is a simple scripting language for controlling and extending applications.

It provides generic programming facilities that are useful for a variety of applications, such as variables and loops and procedures. Furthermore, Tcl is embeddable: its interpreter is implemented as a library of C procedures that can easily be incorporated into applications, and each application can extend the core Tcl features with additional commands specific to that application.

Read the book


3. TclWise by Salvatore Sanfilippo

TclWise

The author lets you access the first 9 chapters of this guide to the Tcl programming language.

It covers the following topics:

  • Introduction.
  • Foundations.
  • Everything is a String.
  • Lists.
  • Strings.
  • Lists and Strings.
  • More on Procedures.
  • Control Constructs
  • Extending Tcl in Tcl

The printed version of the book (available to purchase only) offers an additional 20 chapters.

Read the book


4. Tcl Programming by Wikibooks

Tcl ProgrammingThis is a fairly short book (spanning 73 pages) which offers a useful introduction to Tcl, a scripting language which competes with awk, Perl, Python, PHP, Ruby, and others.

The book has chapters on the language, commands and functions, as well as expr (the arithmetic and logical unit), before ending with a chapter covering interaction and debugging.

This book is published under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license.

Read the book


All books in this series:

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BashShell and command language; popular both as a shell and a scripting language
BASICBeginner’s All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code
CGeneral-purpose, procedural, portable, high-level language
C++General-purpose, portable, free-form, multi-paradigm language
C#Combines the power and flexibility of C++ with the simplicity of Visual Basic
ClojureDialect of the Lisp programming language
ClojureScriptCompiler for Clojure that targets JavaScript
COBOLCommon Business-Oriented Language
CoffeeScriptTranscompiles into JavaScript inspired by Ruby, Python and Haskell
CoqDependently typed language similar to Agda, Idris, F* and others
CrystalGeneral-purpose, concurrent, multi-paradigm, object-oriented language
CSSCSS (Cascading Style Sheets) specifies a web page’s appearance
DGeneral-purpose systems programming language with a C-like syntax
DartClient-optimized language for fast apps on multiple platforms
DylanMulti-paradigm language supporting functional and object-oriented coding
ECMAScriptBest known as the language embedded in web browsers
EiffelObject-oriented language designed by Bertrand Meyer
ElixirRelatively new functional language running on the Erlang virtual machine
ErlangGeneral-purpose, concurrent, declarative, functional language
F#Uses functional, imperative, and object-oriented programming methods
FactorDynamic stack-based programming language
ForthImperative stack-based programming language
FortranThe first high-level language, using the first compiler
GoCompiled, statically typed programming language
GroovyPowerful, optionally typed and dynamic language
HaskellStandardized, general-purpose, polymorphically, statically typed language
HTMLHyperText Markup Language
IconWide variety of features for processing and presenting symbolic data
JArray programming language based primarily on APL
JavaGeneral-purpose, concurrent, class-based, object-oriented, high-level language
JavaScriptInterpreted, prototype-based, scripting language
JuliaHigh-level, high-performance language for technical computing
KotlinMore modern version of Java
LabVIEWDesigned to enable domain experts to build power systems quickly
LaTeXProfessional document preparation system and document markup language
LispUnique features - excellent to study programming constructs
LogoDialect of Lisp that features interactivity, modularity, extensibility
LuaDesigned as an embeddable scripting language
MarkdownPlain text formatting syntax designed to be easy-to-read and easy-to-write
Objective-CObject-oriented language that adds Smalltalk-style messaging to C
OCamlThe main implementation of the Caml language
PascalImperative and procedural language designed in the late 1960s
PerlHigh-level, general-purpose, interpreted, scripting, dynamic language
PHPPHP has been at the helm of the web for many years
PostScriptInterpreted, stack-based and Turing complete language
PrologA general purpose, declarative, logic programming language
PureScriptSmall strongly, statically typed language compiling to JavaScript
PythonGeneral-purpose, structured, powerful language
QMLHierarchical declarative language for user interface layout - JSON-like syntax
RDe facto standard among statisticians and data analysts
RacketGeneral-purpose, object-oriented, multi-paradigm, functional language
RakuMember of the Perl family of programming languages
RubyGeneral purpose, scripting, structured, flexible, fully object-oriented language
RustIdeal for systems, embedded, and other performance critical code
ScalaModern, object-functional, multi-paradigm, Java-based language
SchemeA general-purpose, functional language descended from Lisp and Algol
ScratchVisual programming language designed for 8-16 year-old children
SQLAccess and manipulate data held in a relational database management system
Standard MLGeneral-purpose functional language characterized as "Lisp with types"
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TclDynamic language based on concepts of Lisp, C, and Unix shells
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ValaObject-oriented language, syntactically similar to C#
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VimLPowerful scripting language of the Vim editor
XMLRules for defining semantic tags describing structure ad meaning
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