How to download and install TCL/TK in 2023 to build GUIs
Tags: gui, tcltk, desktop
Published: 2023-03-09 12:09:02

TCL/TK is a great option to create desktop graphical user interfaces (GUIs) even in 2023. TCL is a software programming language introduced in 1988 by a US-based software programmer, John Ousterhout, and TK is a GUI widget library to generate powerful and native user interfaces.

TCL is a very compact language by nature and is widely used on embedded systems platforms either as a standalone language or as embedded within C programs.

In this article, I'll guide you through the process of downloading and installing TCL/TK, and also of creating a simple GUI program using TK.

## Downloading and Installing TCL/TK

Before we can start building GUIs with TCL/TK, I need you to download and install the programming language on your software development machine.

**Here's how you can do it:-**

- Go to the TCL/TK website at https://www.tcl.tk/.

- Click on the "Download" link at the top of the page.

- Choose the appropriate version of TCL/TK for your operating system. For example, if you're using Windows, click on the "Windows" link.

- Download the appropriate installer file for your system. For example, if you're using Windows, download the ".exe" file.

- Run the installer and follow the prompts to install TCL/TK on your system.

**Note:-** As I use EndeavourOS (a flavor of ArchLinux) for all my software programming needs thus it already has TCL installed by default. And, I just needed to install TK by running:-

```bash
yay -S tk
```

Once you've installed TCL/TK, you're ready to start creating GUIs.

## Creating a GUI Program with TK

To create a GUI program with TK, I'll be using a combination of TCL code and TK widgets. 

Here's a simple example program that creates a window with a button:-

```
# Import the TK library
package require Tk

# Define a function to be called when the button is pressed
proc buttonPressed {} {
    puts "Hello, world!"
}

# Create a window with a button
wm title . "Hello, TK!"
button .button -text "Click me!" -command buttonPressed
pack .button
```

Let's break this down line by line:-

- The first line imports the TK library, which gives us access to all of the TK widgets.

- The second line defines a function called "buttonPressed" that will be called when the button is pressed. In this case, it simply prints "Hello, world!" to the console.

- The third line creates a window and sets its title to "Hello, TK!".

- The fourth line creates a button widget with the text "Click me!" and sets its command to call the "buttonPressed" function when clicked.

- The fifth line packs the button widget into the window.

- To run this program, save it as a file with a ".tcl" extension (e.g. "hello.tcl") and run it from the command line using the TCL interpreter:-

```bash
tclsh hello.tcl
```

This will open a window with a button that says "Click me!". When you click the button, the text "Hello, world!" will be printed on the console.

See the screenshot below running the above code.

![Hello World Example](https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:720/format:webp/1*v7ce-mwKHjscgyLgU1QjaQ.png)

## Conclusion

TCL/TK is a powerful tool for creating GUIs.

By following the steps outlined in this article, you should be able to download and install TCL/TK and create your own simple GUI program using TK widgets.

I remember I built a desktop program using TCL/TK, during my postgrad degree at RMIT Uni, which would find and display all the network nodes in my department in a nice GUI.

With a little bit of practice and experimentation, you can create even more complex and sophisticated GUIs with TCL/TK. Good luck!

**P.S.** You can also use your favorite software languages too such as Python, Ruby, etc. To build GUIs using TK. See the TK wiki for more information.

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