🚀 go-pugleaf

Let me re-phrase what I said.  

The part about "small tools working together" still holds.  AREXX
and Tcl both provide that kind of thing.

AREXX sits outside the applications and sends commands in.  Tcl sits
inside the applications and, when needed, can send a command to
another Tcl-based application.

With AREXX, you have one interpreter that executes commands.  Certain
commands are "sent" to programs that will do that function for that
command.  In other words, the more AREXX compat. applications you are
running, the more commands get added to the interpreter.  (Well, not
directly added, but in a certain sense the vocabulary is enhanced.)

Tcl becomes the script language for your application.  It includes all
the usual looping commands and everything that you expect.  You then
add new commands to it's language.  For example, if you wanted a
Tcl-based mail reader, you'd write the various components, and link in
the Tcl module.  ...and your code would start with a call to:

       Initialize-all-Tcl-stuff();

followed by a 

       AddThisCommand("read", readroutine, HowManyParameters);

and a

       AddThisCommand("create", createroutine, HowManyParametersForThis1);

Now, this build-in interpreter has the ability to do use your routines
too.

So, one is better if you like central authority and one is better if
you want your programs to be egalitarian. :-)   They'll both get the
same thing done.  With sharable libraries they both take about the
same amount of space (linear expansion) though I've been told that
AREXX is a larger interpreter.

-Tom
-- 
Tom Limoncelli       The computer industry should spend more time in front of
tlimonce@drew.uucp              their computers.  Remember when "Look & Feel"
tlimonce@drew.Bitnet                      was what you tried to do on a date?
limonce@pilot.njin.net