VANCOUVER, British Columbia – December 18, 2001 – ActiveState, the leader in open source programming tools, announces the release of ASPN Tcl, comprehensive Tcl tools and resources in a single value package. ASPN Tcl provides the latest quality TclPro builds and information with access to the ActiveState Programmer Network’s Tcl cookbook; mailing lists and archives; and technical references. ASPN Tcl includes licenses for TclPro, a toolkit for rapid development of Tcl applications; and Komodo IDE, ActiveState’s cross-platform, multi-language IDE, with special TclPro integration. ActiveState’s quality assured TclPro toolkit for Linux, Solaris and Windows enables programmers to remotely and visually debug Tcl; deploy Tcl programs as ready to run executables; obfuscate code; and check syntax to spot errors. “ActiveState’s delighted to step in where Scriptics/Ajuba left off. ASPN Tcl fills the need for productive and secure editing, debugging and deploying of Tcl in the enterprise,” said Dick Hardt, Founder & CEO, ActiveState. “ActiveState’s extensive Tcl tools, resources and support we provide make Tcl programming safe and easy, which is key for customers of ours like Cisco with thousands of Tcl developers.”

Key ASPN Tcl features:

  • TclPro toolkit: quality-assured checker, debugger, wrapper and compiler
  • Komodo IDE: editor, graphical debugger, tutorials, and dynamic help for Tcl, Perl, Python, PHP, and XSLT on Linux and Windows
  • Tcl cookbook: a collaborative website, built by ActiveState, which hosts community contributions to the art of Tcl programming
  • ActiveTcl: free binary Tcl distribution, available for Linux, Solaris, and Windows;
  • ASPN: technical references, FAQs, mailings lists and archives

“Tcl has proven to be the best scripting language for our automated testing environment for over a decade now. The number of Tcl users has grown from a few engineers to over thousands within our organization,” Hemang Lavana, Software Engineer, Cisco Systems. “ActiveState has successfully managed to fill Scriptics/Ajuba’s spot of providing Tcl support. I’ve been very impressed with the current distribution of ActiveTcl and look forward to your future Tcl-based products.”

“I’m excited to be reviving the popular TclPro toolset, which along with the advanced Komodo IDE is the most extensive Tcl development environment available,” said Jeff Hobbs, Tcl Tech Lead, ActiveState. “These tools greatly enhanced Tcl programmer’s productivity, whether in the enterprise space or in a one person shop.”

Other ActiveState Tcl initiatives comprise hosting of the primary Tcl community website. ActiveState also provides support for Tcl applications and internals on a wide range of platforms with the TclClinic on a per-incident basis, as a prepaid support contract, or through ActiveState’s TclDirect. Future plans include Visual Tcl, a Tcl plugin to Microsoft’s Visual Studio .NET. ASPN Tcl is being offered at a special introductory price of $50 off for the first year for $445 until January 15, 2002. The regular price is $495. It is an annual service that includes all updates for one year, plus online, searchable access to cookbooks, technical references, sample code, and more.

About ActiveState:
ActiveState is the leading provider of open source based programming products and services for cross-platform development. ActiveState’s key technologies are Perl, the Internet’s most popular programming language; Python and Tcl, user-friendly scripting languages; PHP, the dynamic Web programming language; and XSLT, the XML transformation language. The ActiveState Programmer Network (ASPN) offers these technologies with the latest information and productivity tools, empowering programmers with the freedom to work with their preferred language and development environment.

Media & Analyst Contacts:
Lori Pike, ActiveState, 604.808.6655

ActiveState, ASPN, Komodo, and Visual Tcl are trademarks of ActiveState Corp. All other company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.