TCL ADA SHELL

An Ada 95 binding to Tcl/Tk

TASH is the implementation of a binding to Tcl/Tk from Ada. With it, you can

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Table of Contents (this page only)

Binding to Tcl
Binding to Tk
Software License Terms
Release Notes
How to Get and Install TASH
Test and Demo Programs
Mailing List
How to Get and Install GNAT
How to Get and Install Tcl/Tk

See also the full site index.

Binding to Tcl

TASH includes a thin binding to the public Tcl interface, tcl.h. It also includes a thick binding to Tcl. It is intended that this thick binding will eventually provide a full high-level abstraction to all Tcl capabilities.

The Tcl distribution includes a Tcl shell interpreter, named tclsh. The TASH binding derives its name from the Ada version of the Tcl shell interpreter: Tcl Ada SHell. Just like tclsh, tash reads and interprets a Tcl script. It is also the starting point for building a custom Tcl interpreter in which new Tcl commands are implemented in Ada rather than C.

An early paper describing the rationale of the design of TASH is available in several different formats in the docs directory.

Binding to Tk

TASH includes a thin binding to the public Tk interface, tk.h. It also includes a thick binding to Tk. It is intended that this thick binding will eventually provide a full high-level abstraction to all Tk capabilities.

TWASH is the Tcl Windowing Ada SHell. It is the Ada version of the wish program. Just like wish, it reads and interprets a Tcl/Tk script. It is also a starting point for building a custom Tcl/Tk interpreter in which new Tcl/Tk commands are implemented in Ada rather than C.

An early paper describing how TWASH is a Platform-Independent toolkit for development of Graphical User Interfaces is available in several different formats in the docs directory.

Software License Terms

It is my intention to make this software as freely available as possible, while not violating the rights of the Regents of the University of California and Sun Microsystems, Inc. This appears best done by simply using the License Terms included with Tcl/Tk.

Release Notes

Release notes for the current and previous versions of TASH are available.

How to Get and Install TASH

The TASH website is hosted by my employer, Calspan, an operation of Veridian. TASH is available for download in several formats: See Unix and Windows 95 installation instructions for details on how to get, install and build TASH.

Sample Programs

The two directories, demos and tests, contain several sample Ada programs which demonstrate and test the use of Tcl/Tk via the TASH interface.

Mailing List

The TASH mailing list is provided also courtesy of Calspan and is intended for discussion of TASH usage and development. You can subscribe to the TASH mailing list by sending email to listserv@calspan.com with the following command as the only thing in the BODY of your message:
subscribe tash John Doe
Of course, you'd replace "John Doe" with your own name!

When you subscribe, the LISTSERV software will send you an email confirming your subscription and providing instructions on how to post messages, get help, and unsubscribe.

How to get and install GNAT

You will need an Ada 95 compiler to build TASH. The Unix version of TASH was built on a Sun with Solaris 2.5.1 and the GNU New York University Ada Translator (GNAT), version 3.10p. The Windows 95 version was built on a 150 MHz Micron Millennia PC (24MB of RAM), also with GNAT version 3.10p. A description of GNAT may be found at Ada Home and it may be fetched via anonymous ftp from ftp://cs.nyu.edu/pub/gnat/ and its mirrors.

How to get and install Tcl/Tk

You will also need Tcl/Tk itself to build TASH. The home page is http://sunscript.sun.com/. This provides additional information about Tcl/Tk and instructions on how to get and install it. To install and build TASH, you will need, at a minimum, the binary installation.


Author: Terry J. Westley
Email: twestley@buffalo.veridian.com
Web: http://tash.calspan.com/
File Ref: README.htm
Last Updated: