Very Computer

HTH,
JimC

I am looking for an easy way to build a graphical user interface on top
of a ksh-script accepting command line arguments.
I know I could achieve this using Tcl/Tck but does anyone has any
experience with doing similar things in Java.

-Paul

Since you already have tcl/tk programming experience, I suggest you
look at

http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~jlk/tksh

[from the above URL...]

Tksh is an implementation of the Tcl C library written on top of
the library for the new KornShell (ksh93). Tksh emulates the behavior
of Tcl by using the API that is provided for extending ksh93, which
is similar to the Tcl library in that it allows access to variables,
functions and other state of the interpreter. This implementation
allows Tcl libraries such as Tk to run on top of ksh93 unchanged,
making it possible to use shell scripts in place of Tcl scripts.
ksh93 is well suited for use with Tk because it is backward compatible
with sh, making it both easy to learn and easy to extend existing
scripts to provide a graphical user interface. Tksh is not yet
another port of Tk to another language -- it allows Tcl scripts to
run without modification using the ksh93 internals.

For completeness, I should also mention dtksh, which implements
xwindows calls via the same dynamically linking facility (alluded
to above) in ksh93.

BTW, ksh93 is free (ahem... for non-commercial use) from
www.kornshell.com.  For commercial use, a reasonably priced supported
version of tksh is available through gltinc.com.

-Brian

Say I don't have a legacy of Tcl scripts I need to run in ksh93 and I'm
free to start from scratch.
What strong argument is there to choose for "tksh" as "dtksh" comes for
free with CDE?

-Paul

Dtksh has the benefit of being a distribution tool with all the
support and archival store that this implies. Dtksh, you should
note, is based upon ksh93b -- which is not the latest version
(ksh93d).

I find programming XWindows calls even within a high-level language
like ksh a bit fussy and low level; Tcl/tk has always seemed to me
the appropriate front-end for graphical development.

If you are a reasonably experienced XWindows programmer, then I would in
your place find this a viable alternative.

-Brian