> I can't imagine replacing a shell script with it
I can and have. Whenever a shell script starts getting at all complex, I grab a scripting language. These days it's Ruby, but in the past it was Tcl, and it did a fine job: it has a bunch of built in commands that are convenient for system tasks, and plays very nicely with the environment it lives in. So, quite the contrary: due to the OO (although this is being fixed) and 'GC/reference' problems, I'd be more concerned about big systems in Tcl, and not at all with little scripts, where it still is an excellent choice.
You're quite right about "the web" being the big winner in terms of "cross-platform toolkits" and as a bonus deployment is also way easier. Tcl can do the web though. See: http://flightaware.com/ . But of course in that field, things didn't play out like they did with Tk, where it was probably the most popular option.
Also, while I use Ruby these days quite happily, Tcl has it beat in terms of DSL's, IMO, due to the extreme simplicity/plasticity of the syntax.
Why Lua (probably deservedly) started beating Tcl in the 'embedding' space is covered in the article.
Python, by the way, does pretty well with being a "nice average general-purpose language", although I do sense some envy on their part over the popularity of things like Ruby on Rails. So I do and I don't agree with your conclusion. If Tcl were where Python is today, it would be a much healthier language, even if not the biggest thing out there. Also, by having a 'reservoir' of people using a language, you're more likely to get someone doing something that turns into a big hit.
The frustrating thing about "the web" as a cross-platform GUI is the cutting-edge demos these days are of things we last saw on the PCs of the 1980s. Its like we stepped back 30 years and are celebrating ourselves.
This is because the new wave of developers doesn't have any connection to the old scene to see how absurd this state is. What would be trite and unimpressive in the context of what was done decades ago on far less powerful hardware with far more low-level languages is instead very impressive to those that are used to incredibly complex runtimes (e.g. browsers and modern operating systems) and have performance issues as a result. I think computing needs a low-level renaissance. "The web" is no panacea; to the contrary, it's going to keep expanding in unavoidable complexity to negate all improvements in algorithms and hardware over time.
I can and have. Whenever a shell script starts getting at all complex, I grab a scripting language. These days it's Ruby, but in the past it was Tcl, and it did a fine job: it has a bunch of built in commands that are convenient for system tasks, and plays very nicely with the environment it lives in. So, quite the contrary: due to the OO (although this is being fixed) and 'GC/reference' problems, I'd be more concerned about big systems in Tcl, and not at all with little scripts, where it still is an excellent choice.
You're quite right about "the web" being the big winner in terms of "cross-platform toolkits" and as a bonus deployment is also way easier. Tcl can do the web though. See: http://flightaware.com/ . But of course in that field, things didn't play out like they did with Tk, where it was probably the most popular option.
Also, while I use Ruby these days quite happily, Tcl has it beat in terms of DSL's, IMO, due to the extreme simplicity/plasticity of the syntax.
Why Lua (probably deservedly) started beating Tcl in the 'embedding' space is covered in the article.
Python, by the way, does pretty well with being a "nice average general-purpose language", although I do sense some envy on their part over the popularity of things like Ruby on Rails. So I do and I don't agree with your conclusion. If Tcl were where Python is today, it would be a much healthier language, even if not the biggest thing out there. Also, by having a 'reservoir' of people using a language, you're more likely to get someone doing something that turns into a big hit.