ExtraL

extra commands for Tcl
by Peter De Rijk (Universiteit Antwerpen)

What is ExtraL

Extral is a generally useful library which extends Tcl with a.o.(full list):

Extra list manipulation commands
Mathematical commands on whole lists
Extra string manipulation commands
Extra array manipulation commands
Command manipulation commands
Validation commands: isint, isdouble
maps: store structured data in lists
Filing commands
Info commands
Date and time: extra commands for handling dates
atexit: execute commands when Tcl exits
tempfile: get names for temporary files
Structures
Convenience functions: various useful procs
ssort: enhanced lsort

The name comes from the fact that ExtraL originally only contained extra list processing commands to overcome some of the performance problems in Tcl when processing large lists. Later other commands were added. With the advent of the Tcl byte compiler, the performance is not such a great issue any longer, but I still find many of the list manipulation functions very convenient, and some of those that were now rewritten using the object system in C are still faster.

Most functions are now also available in Tcl-only form as well. Using the C code just gives a speedup.

You can find a short description of the commands in the files in the docs subdirectory. For some of the commands, you can find out a lot by checking the testing suite in the directory tests.

Installation

You should be able to obtain the latest version of ExtraL via www on url http://rrna.uia.ac.be/extral or via anonymous ftp on rrna.uia.ac.be. in the directory /pub/tcl

This package can be build as a loadable object to Tcl8.0. Go to the src directory and type

./configure --with-tcl=
make

This should produce the loadable module. The build.tcl and buildwin.tcl files are a tool to make a nice package in a different directory.

How to contact me

I will do my best to reply as fast as I can to any problems, etc. However, the development of extraL is not my only task, which is why my response might not be always as fast as you would like.

Peter De Rijk
University of Antwerp (UIA)
Department of Biochemistry
Universiteitsplein 1
B-2610 Antwerp

tel.: 32-03-820.23.16
fax: 32-03-820.22.48
E-mail: derijkp@uia.ua.ac.be
web: http://rrna.uia.ac.be/~peter/personal/peter.html

Legalities

ExtraL is Copyright Peter De Rijk, University of Antwerp (UIA), 1995 The following terms apply to all files associated with the software unless explicitly disclaimed in individual files.

The author hereby grant permission to use, copy, modify, distribute, and license this software and its documentation for any purpose, provided that existing copyright notices are retained in all copies and that this notice is included verbatim in any distributions. No written agreement, license, or royalty fee is required for any of the authorized uses. Modifications to this software may be copyrighted by their authors and need not follow the licensing terms described here, provided that the new terms are clearly indicated on the first page of each file where they apply.

IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR DISTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE TO ANY PARTY FOR DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, ITS DOCUMENTATION, OR ANY DERIVATIVES THEREOF, EVEN IF THE AUTHORS HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

THE AUTHORS AND DISTRIBUTORS SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ANY WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS, AND THE AUTHORS AND DISTRIBUTORS HAVE NO OBLIGATION TO PROVIDE MAINTENANCE, SUPPORT, UPDATES, ENHANCEMENTS, OR MODIFICATIONS.