Mastering Perl/Tk

Acknowledgments

What Descartes did was a good step. You have added much several ways, and especially in taking ye colours of thin plates into philosophical consideration. If I have seen further it is by standing on ye shoulders of Giants.

——Newton to Hooke, 5 February 1676; Corres 1, 416.

Embodied in this statement is the simple truth that all work is derived, in one manner or another, from insights and knowledge gained from others. And so it is with this book. Its creation would have been impossible without a talented team of Giants, whose contributions we can only feebly recognize.

Steve

I’m especially grateful to my wife Carol, whom I neglected for all these months. It was her patience, love, and support that kept me going. And to my parents, Ken and Sally, thank you for providing the nurturing that made me what I am today.

Thanks to the creator of Tcl/Tk, John Ousterhout, who brought graphical programming from the dungeons of assembler to the bright light of high-level programming. And let’s not forget the Tcl community, largely responsible for shaping the development of Tk. Thanks in particular to one Tcl illuminary, Cameron Laird, the maintainer of the Perl/Tk FAQ.

Many thanks to Linda Mui, our editor, and to the book’s reviewers: Andy Duncan, Brand Hilton, Nick Ing-Simmons, Slaven Rezic, and Martin Stoufer. They all devoted lots of time and effort, and on short notice, to the task at hand. Unfortunately for me, but luckily for you, they spotted many typographical and technical ...