Tcl/Tk 9.1

tcl-lang.org · On Hacker News (2026-09-30)

286 points · 131 comments on HN · read original →

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Tcl/Tk 9.1 adds new commands and accessibility improvements.

Tcl/Tk 9.1.0, released Sep 29, 2026, adds new commands including unicode (normalization), timer (monotonic clock), lfilter (list filtering), and interp set. New subst options (-backslashes, -commands, -variables) and switch -integer. Tk gains accessibility screen reader support, bidirectional text/RTL languages, a new ttk::toggleswitch widget, and rotated text on labels. Wayland support is targeted for Tk 9.2.

What commenters are saying

Commenters welcomed the improved accessibility, with one user sharing they're losing vision due to retinal tearing. Many praised Tcl/Tk as the easiest GUI system, noting its simplicity for rapid prototyping. Discussion about AOLServer and ArsDigita nostalgia appeared. Wayland support (targeted for 9.2) was noted but not yet shipped. A few commenters in VLSI CAD tools said they hate working with Tcl in that context, blaming vendor shoehorning rather than the language itself.