How many of you use tcl? I've been using it for a couple years for things other than cgi but am just now getting into cgi scripting and I'll be using Tcl.

If you don't have any experience with it, it's a great scripting language. It's syntax is easy to learn and it's very flexible. Pretty much every unix machine has tclsh, the tcl interpreter, so it's pretty easy to start using it for cgi scripting. You can learn more about it here: http://www.tcl.tk

I was just curious if there were any other tcl programmers out there who were using it for cgi purposes.

Having worked on various Linux distros in the last few years I am aware of Tcl but went down the Perl path instead ;-)

I would be interested to know more about Tcl's capabilities and features though.

For example, can it connect to a variety of databases (including ODBC-based ones) and if so what is the most favoured one (for example PHP and mysql are a popular combination) ?

If pushed what language or languages would you say it had most in common with, if any?

What's its reputation regarding security?

Does it have any 'gotchas' when working with other technologies such as XML?

What would you say are its main advantages over its rivals?

I would be grateful for your insight.

Hey,

To be honest, there are a lot more people at the newsgroup comp.lang.tcl that could answer your questions in detail a lot better than I can.

I would say one of tcl's advantages is its simplicity, and it's got tons of standard and 3rd party extensions for nearly any task. Also if you're making gui's they are quick and easy with tcl/tk.

There are lots of extensions for tcl, including ones for db's and xml. Here's a page about tcl and xml: http://www.tcl.tk/advocacy/xml.html
And here's one comparing tcl to perl: http://www.tcl.tk/advocacy/perl.html

As to what language it would have most in common with, I don't know. I'm tempted to say perl, since a lot of people either use one or the other for the same tasks.

Thanks for that :-)