Purpose: to provide a forum where developers used to an [IDE]
development environment can share tools which provide them 
an environment suitable for development.

I hope established Tcl developers, as well as people learning to program Tcl the first time, update/add to this page information they find useful.

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There have been times when users (particularly from the Windows development arena)
come to the Tcl community perplexed as to how to get started.

Some of the issues they face are:

   * How do I write Tcl programs?
   * How do I run Tcl programs?
   * How do I debug Tcl programs?
   * Where do I find useful Tcl or Tk widgets?
   * How do I compile Tcl, Tk, or some extension?

Tcl (and Tk) in their ''purest'' form (that is to say, either the source
or perhaps executable form from the http://tcl.sf.net/ project)
comes with minimal development aids.  It is expected that the user will
either already have a suitable set of tools for performing text editing, etc.
or that you are willing and able to download various tools.

The standard development cycle for Tcl programs (that one plans on keeping) might be summarized:

   1. Start up a text editor.
   1. Write your Tcl code.
   1. Save the Tcl code to a file.
   1. Start up a Tcl interpreter.
   start loop
   1. Using the Tcl 'source' command, source in the Tcl code.
   1. Invoke Tcl procedure, if your Tcl code file doesn't already do that.
   1. If the program works as expected, you are done.  Exit loop
   1. Otherwise, edit the Tcl code.  Perhaps add puts statements, or some other
        type of debugging code.
   end loop








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[CL] thinks it's important to say that it's not just that
Tcl/Tk is defective in failing to integrate an IDE in the way
someone coming from Delphi or Visual C++ might expect.
Tcl/Tk programming is ''different'' from programming in
those other languages, and has less need for an IDE.  At
some point in your Tcl programming career, try working with
the language "on its own terms".  Many of the most
experienced Tcl developers find that a more satisfying
approach than use of an IDE.

These comments are specific to Tcl in its technical
development as of 2002 (say).