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Red: A programming language inspired by REBOL

(github.com)
95 points Levitating | 22 comments | 31 Aug 25 03:14 UTC | HN request time: 0.013s | source | bottom
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hn-ifs ◴[31 Aug 25 11:13 UTC] No.45082292[source]▶
I remember looking at red ages ago but never got round to using it. I like to learn odd non-mainstream languages. Currently learning Nushell which is an amazing alternative shell. And I like the look of roc-lang too.

I'm desperate for a truly cross platform programming language with gui abilities on those platforms. I'm slowly learning dart/flutter for this but truly wish for something simpler. I get the reasoning behind flutters declarative style but it's certainly not simple, especially when you get to state management.

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0x0203 ◴[31 Aug 25 11:51 UTC] No.45082465[source]▶
Tcl/tk is still alive and doing well. It's cross platform, very quick to learn, and easily embeddable into other languages/projects.
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1. hollerith ◴[31 Aug 25 11:55 UTC] No.45082484[source]▶
Can you name an important software written in Tcl or Tk?

Important softwares written in Ruby for example include Rails and Homebrew.

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2. doublerabbit ◴[31 Aug 25 12:55 UTC] No.45082798[source]▶
One of the big investment banks use TCL/TK, for real-time e-trading. Source my last gig.

The "important software" are normally kept behind NDAs, so you never hear about their uses. TCL was also used on the Mars Rover.

Take a look for yourself: https://wiki.tcl-lang.org/page/Who+Uses+Tcl

3. coliveira ◴[31 Aug 25 13:03 UTC] No.45082840[source]▶
Tcl is the embedded language of git. Standard git gui is written in Tcl/Tk. Tcl is also the script language for sqlite.
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4. SomeHacker44 ◴[31 Aug 25 13:04 UTC] No.45082852[source]▶
The FPGA software from Xilinx and Altera are scripted with Tcl/Tk.
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5. hollerith ◴[31 Aug 25 13:07 UTC] No.45082868[source]▶
.gitconfig is in an INI-like format though, which is not anything like Tcl.

Also, does anyone use the "standard" git GUI?

>Tcl is also the script language for sqlite.

OK, thanks.

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6. hollerith ◴[31 Aug 25 13:10 UTC] No.45082884[source]▶
Thanks for the reply.
7. dmux ◴[31 Aug 25 13:24 UTC] No.45082991[source]▶
A large part of flightaware.com’s systems were written in TCL.
8. nilamo ◴[31 Aug 25 13:49 UTC] No.45083138[source]▶
Tk has been embedded in python as the GUI toolkit since at least 2.x days. It's used for IDLE, the IDE shipped with Python, and is also used for the turtle module's graphics.
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9. cmrdporcupine ◴[31 Aug 25 15:11 UTC] No.45083781[source]▶
This. In fact it seems like plenty of hardware-eng tools use Tcl, and looking at all alternatives it's not a bad choice.

With Tcl you get something like a Lisp with a flexible consistent syntax, but less brainy and more pragmatic, and designed to drive other tools.

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10. progre ◴[31 Aug 25 16:15 UTC] No.45084308[source]▶
First version of Redis was written in Tcl.
11. justin66 ◴[31 Aug 25 17:02 UTC] No.45084789{3}[source]▶
My impression many years ago was that it’s really not that bad. I got up and running writing simple programs immediately, and wouldn’t have tried to go outside its capabilities as a simple scripting language.
12. srott ◴[31 Aug 25 17:18 UTC] No.45084934{3}[source]▶
Only way I know to remove a file from a commit is by using git commit.

I’m also most comfortable with gitk when reviewing branches

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13. avhon1 ◴[31 Aug 25 18:23 UTC] No.45085576[source]▶
Not written in, but AutoCAD supports scripting in TCL (and in its own AutoLisp, which is much less popular among users than TCL).
14. Qem ◴[01 Sep 25 00:18 UTC] No.45088289[source]▶
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BRL-CAD
15. AdieuToLogic ◴[01 Sep 25 01:05 UTC] No.45088499[source]▶
> Can you name an important software written in Tcl or Tk?

MacPorts[0] uses Tcl significantly.

EDIT:

The expect[1] command also uses Tcl and has a variant which uses Tk.

0 - https://github.com/macports/macports-ports

1 - https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=expect&apropos=0&s...

16. srott ◴[01 Sep 25 05:33 UTC] No.45089751{4}[source]▶
git commit -> git gui
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17. fuzztester ◴[01 Sep 25 08:46 UTC] No.45090816[source]▶
Tk also works with Ruby.

https://tkdocs.com/

18. hollerith ◴[01 Sep 25 13:41 UTC] No.45092630{5}[source]▶
Thanks for that correction. I was quite confused.
19. aconst ◴[01 Sep 25 15:01 UTC] No.45093194{3}[source]▶
I never liked other graphical git clients so I switch between CLI and gitk + git gui according to the task at hand.
20. fuzztester ◴[02 Sep 25 00:29 UTC] No.45097888[source]▶
I've read many times in the past that a lot of EDA-related software is written in Tcl and Tk.

Electronic Design Automation.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_design_automation

See:

https://www.tcl-lang.org/about/uses.html

The section about Embedded Development.

CAD is mentioned there too.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-aided_design

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21. fuzztester ◴[02 Sep 25 00:32 UTC] No.45097906[source]▶
Pasting that section's content here:

Because Tcl is a very compact language, and is easily integrated with special hardware, it is a popular choice for embedded development. You'll find Tcl hidden away on many devices, including many networking products from Cisco and others, and set-top boxes including Tivo. Embedding Tcl within other software projects is of course also hugely popular, and has become the dominant control language in some industries, such as in electronic design automation (EDA) and computer-aided design (CAD) applications.

22. fuzztester ◴[02 Sep 25 00:38 UTC] No.45097942[source]▶
More generally:

https://www.tcl-lang.org/about/uses.html