[Scilab-users] Tcl vs. Java: I want to understand

[Sylvestre Ledru]

Le 14/05/2013 10:14, Piotr Zaprawa a écrit :
> Hello
>
> I want to understand why Tcl in Scilab has been replaced
> by Java. I spend many hours reading many different papers
> on the Internet and I find only this:
>
> <Francois Vogel>: ...The Scilab 4.x graphics have been
> *replaced* by the java graphics, for better or for worse...
>
> and nothing else (I was reading about some problems
> with Tcl on MAC ver. 5.2, but I'm not sure if this is real
> reason or replacement result only).
>
> Do you know any facts about replacement reasons?
>
Tcl was not use for the GUI or the graphics. Tcl was used for the text
editor (scipad) and is still used
for the graphic editor (ged).

In the 4.X family, the Scilab GUI was written with Xlibs under GNU/Linux
and Win32 under Microsoft Windows.
As you can imagine, it was hard to maintain two base code and Xlibs
programming is not the most intuitive.
Under Mac OS X, it also required a X server to run Scilab.

Java code has the advantage to be portable and multiplateform and now
provides a nice look and feel.

Sylvestre