Tk
This article is about the Tk widget toolkit in computing. Tk is also
- an abbreviation used in journalism to indicate "to come" or forthcoming.
- the ISO country code for the islands of Tokelau (TK).
- the ISO language code for the Turkmen language (tk).
- a term used in multiplayer computer games meaning team kill or Team killer.
In computing, Tk is an open source, cross-platform widget toolkit, that is, a library of basic elements for building a graphical user interface (GUI).
Tk was developed by John Ousterhout as an extension for the Tcl scripting language. Through so called "bindings", Tk can be used under other languages, such as Perl, Python, and Ruby. There are two ways for using Tk from Perl: Tcl::Tk Perl module uses Tcl as a bridge (this approach provides more flexibility), and Perl/Tk has Tcl stripped away (only adopted Tcl/Tk extensions are available). Python, Ruby also use Tcl as a bridge for Tk.
Tk has been ported to run on most flavors of Linux, Apple Macintosh, Unix, and Windows. Since Tcl/Tk 8, it offers "native look and feel" (for instance, a menubar is placed differently on the Mac than under Windows or Linux/X11). Also there are several extensions to provide external drag-n-drop, non-rectangular window, native widgets.
Like Tcl, Tk fully supports unicode.
External links
Generic Tk and Tcl/Tk:
- Tcl and Tk website
- Tk commands, on the Tcl/Tk website
- Tcl/Tk Tutorial
- Tcl/Tk cookbook
Perl/Tk:
- Perl/Tk manual, hosted by Activestate
- Abridged Perl/Tk Tutorial
Ruby/Tk:
- Ruby/Tk, a chapter in The Ruby book
- Ruby/Tk demos, a zip archive
Python/Tk, aka Tkinter:
- Tkinter website
- An Introduction to Tkinter, hosted by Pythonware