The Simple Development Library   A collection of packages and utilities for Tcl development

Table of contents

1. What is?

The Simple Development Library (SimpleDevLib) is a collection of packages and utilities aimed towards assisting software development in Tcl, the great language designed by John Ousterhout, and [incr Tcl], the popular object oriented extension to Tcl.

SimpleDevLib provides essential elements for good software engineering and/or medium to big projects development, such as a framework for regression testing, homogeneous, easily parseable, fully introspectable code organization, a type system, a framework for regression testing and object orientation.

SimpleDevLib is written in pure Tcl itself, so that no compilation is needed to run it on Unix, Windows or Macintosh environments.

SimpleDevLib is distributed under the BSD license. In essence, this license allows you to do whatever you want with the software provided the copyright notices are left untouched.

For a thorough, but concise, introduction to The Simple Development Library, the reader is referred to The Simple Development Library white paper.

2. Packages

SimpleDevLib is structured as a set of packages, providing a differentiated functionality each. The list of packages is the following:

• SimpleBase: the Simple Development Library base package.

• SimpleError: error handling.

• SimplePackage: packages handling.

• SimpleNamespace: namespaces and qualified names related utilities.

• SimpleSubcommand: subcommand procedures handling.

• SimpleType: types handling.

• SimpleVariable: typed variables handling.

• SimpleProc: procedures with extended argument syntax handling.

• SimpleDeclare: packages and procedures declaration.

• SimpleClass: [incr Tcl] classes declaration.

• SimpleOption: command line options parser.

• SimpleProgram: program declaration.

• SimpleTest: regression testing framework.

• SimpleFile: file handling.

3. Utilities

SimpleDevLib also contains a number of utilities as follows:

• simpletest: the Simple Development Library regression testing tool.

• simpledependencies: the Simple Development Library package dependencies finder.

• simpleexplainerror: the Simple Development Library error explanation.

4. Download and installation

SimpleDevLib current version is 1.0, dated 22-jun-2005.

SimpleDevLib is hosted by SourceForge at http://simpledevlib.sourceforge.net. Prepackaged ZIP and TGZ files are available for download.

Just unpack into one of the directories that Tcl searches for packages and you are done; Tcl version 8.1 or later is required (this release has been tested using Tcl versions 8.1.1, 8.2.3, 8.3.3 and 8.4.9, both in Unix and Windows; contact the author should you want to use SimpleDevLib with Tcl 8.0). The SimpleClass package requires [incr Tcl], so that a version of this extension compatible with the Tcl one being used is needed.

To test the installation, type simpletest SimpleDevLib in Unix or tclsh?? simpletest SimpleDevLib in Windows (?? is your Tcl version, such as 84); a total of 1052 test cases in 14 packages shall execute and pass (in Windows and Macintosh one test from the SimpleFile package is skipped; should [incr Tcl] be not available, 13 tests from the SimpleDeclare package and the whole SimpleClass package are skipped).

5. Further information

• The Simple Development Library white paper.

• The Simple Development Library item components.

• The Simple Development Library bug database.

• For bug reports, comments, request for features or code contributions please contact the author at mailto:jgil@gmv.es.

• SimpleDevLib is hosted by SourceForge at http://simpledevlib.sourceforge.net.

• comp.lang.tcl is the Usenet group for Tcl and SimpleDevLib discussion.

• There is a page devoted to The Simple Development Library in the Tcl Wikit at http://wiki.tcl.tk/TheSimpleDevelopmentLibrary.

6. Copyright

Copyright (C) 1999-2005, Juan C. Gil mailto:jgil@gmv.es.