Why tcl?

[ElvisIncognito]

Just curious, but it seems to me that, with an underlying Linux OS, hacks could be written in just about anything... Perl, Python, Luascript, etc.

I suspect the answer has something to do with native scripts that ship with Tivo, but I'm still curious.

Also, how common/prevalant is tcl beyond the world of Tivo? (Perl is good to have on a resume, as is Python, but I simply haven't had much exposure/contact with tcl...)

[malfunct]

The reason that most hacks are written in tcl or bash is that there are interpreters for those two script languages included with the tivo but there are not interpretors for other languages (perl or python). The other option if you don't want to use tcl or bash is to compile your solution into a statically linked binary compiled for the target platform but that makes it more difficult to support different platforms (PPC vs MIPS) and requires a cross compilation environment.

[grabb]

It's been my experience that tcl is annoyingly popular. Several of my CS grad school projects required using tcl/tk for platform independent graphics, and tcl was also used by a network simulation tool required for a queuing theory class (I HATE Markov chains!). At work, we use perl and python however and I don't know anyone who actually prefers tcl.

[TheWickedPriest]

It's not just that it comes with a TCL interpreter, but that the interpreter comes with Tivo-specific extensions ready to use. In fact, the interpreter is built into the almighty tivoapp.

[mrblack51]

It's been my experience that tcl is annoyingly popular. Several of my CS grad school projects required using tcl/tk for platform independent graphics, and tcl was also used by a network simulation tool required for a queuing theory class (I HATE Markov chains!). At work, we use perl and python however and I don't know anyone who actually prefers tcl.

markov chains are pimp, what are you talking about...NS2 kicks butt

[sanderton]

TiVo have implemented the main control app of the Tivo as a TCL interpreter, presumably to make development of high level stuff easier. The idea of a interpreted control script language with application-specific compiled extensions is what TCL is for. As a result a TCL script can access the MFS database which controls everything Tivop does directly.