Embedding tcl in ruby

Question

Is there any way to do this? It seems the only possible way to do this is by using ruby/tk and creating a tcl interpreter through that api. However, I'd like to use this on a system with no GUI (x windows). Am I out of options?

Thanks

Answer 1

if you are on the command line you can shell out to tclsh. tcl also has a C api so you should be able to use this to embed tcl in ruby if there is no preexisting way?

Answer 2

If you can invoke arbitrary simple functions in Tcl's C API, the key ones are:

• Tcl_FindExecutable – Call this first to initialize the library
• Tcl_CreateInterp – This returns a handle for a new execution context
• Tcl_Eval – This evaluates a script; returns constants TCL_OK (0) or TCL_ERROR (1) (or a few others which are rare in general code)
• Tcl_GetResult – This returns the result value (or error message)
• Tcl_ResetResult – This clears the result value
• Tcl_DeleteInterp – Maybe you can guess what this does…

You can also access "global" variables in the context with Tcl_GetVar and Tcl_SetVar; this is a very convenient way to pass in values that might not be valid scripts.