[2737] in java-interest
Re: java and scripting language
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Roger Day)
Thu Oct 12 08:00:22 1995
Date: Thu, 12 Oct 1995 11:01:40 +0100
From: roger@ssynth.co.uk (Roger Day)
To: ser@jersey.uoregon.edu
Cc: java-interest@java.sun.com
I tend to agree with the following...
>
> hubert@SPARKY.CS.NYU.EDU (Hung-Hsien Chang)
> > Has Sun planned to write a scripting language for the Java?
> > Especially the GUI part ? anything like tk/tcl?
>
> On that note, I'd like to offer my support of the idea that the Java
> development team accept the TK development team's suggestion that Java drop
> the AWT implementation and use imbedded Tk with the AWT class interface.
> There are several points which are valid in this case, and please read the
> entire message before you decide to flame me:
>
> 1) You folks have enough trouble working the bugs out of Java without having
> to worry about developing a UI from scratch.
> 2) The Tk project is internal to Sun, which is important on many levels, even
> given the inter-group rivalry.
> 3) Tk exists everywhere already. That would be that much less porting you
> need to do.
> 4) Tk has a lot of functionality which would require a lot of effort to
> reproduce if you continue with the current AWT implementation.
> 5) The Tk interface is well designed.
>
> My disclaimers are primarily for the people who do not know much about TCL/Tk:
> this is not an argument for TCL inclusion in Java. I do not like TCL.
> Including Tk wouldn't neccessarily mean using the TCL scripting language for
> generating interfaces. Using Tk wouldn't mean using an external library, or
> changing the was AWT is invoked from Java.
>
> For the people on the JDT, I can only say with deepest sincerity that I
> believe integrating Tk into Java would be tremendously helpful to your
> development efforts, which would help us application developers by providing
> us quickly with a stable interface package, not to mention helping you port to
> more platforms more quickly. On a more aesthetic note, I personally like the
> look and feel of Tk applications.
>
> --- SER
>
> -
> Note to Sun employees: this is an EXTERNAL mailing list!
> Info: send 'help' to java-interest-request@java.sun.com
>
TK makes a lot of difference when it comes to building apps. But there are problems. I point you at the safe-tcl packages, which describes how "unsafe" TK is from a security point of view, although I suspect it's only a matter of work to make it secure.
Somebody wrote a Java evaluator for TCL (which could be extended to TK). But, as the security issues surrounding TK stands, you'd have to be very trusting to accept an applet which contained TCL/TK scripting. Witness the current argy-bargy over how safe Java is...and it was designed with security in mind.
Having said all this, I still think it's a good idea, if it's possible.
Cheers,
Roger.
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