This message is to announce the new 1.2.3 release of Jacl and
Tcl Blend.  These releases are the result of a joint effort by
Christopher Hylands, Mo DeJong, and Bryan Surles. The goal of
this project is to extend and improve the 1.0 release of Jacl
and Tcl Blend which was originally started by the Sun Tcl team.

The 1.2.3 Developers release of Jacl and Tcl Blend are available for
downloading at the following URL:

    http://www.cs.umn.edu/~dejong/tcl/tcljava

The 1.2 release is a developers release and should be considered alpha
quality. Version 1.2.3 includes lots of bug fixes and some new features
that make it even easier to use Tcl and Java together


What's New in the 1.2.3 Release?
----------------------------------

Tcl Blend now works with Tcl 8.1! Support for Motif libs in
the Linux port of Tcl Blend has been added. Some documentation
errors have been fixed. A number of bugs in the implementation
of the read and gets commands for Jacl have been fixed. A bug
in Jacl's exec command under windows was fixed. Fixes for printing
of -0.0, positive infinity, and negative infinity for Jacl were
also added. See the changes.txt file for additional info.

What is Jacl?
----------------

Jacl is a 100% Java implementation of Tcl 8.0.  This allows Tcl to run
in more environments and also brings the power of scripting to Java
developers.  Jacl only implements a subset of the Tcl language (the C
version of Tcl has a lot of features!).  However, the core of the
language is implemented and well tested.

What is Tcl Blend?
------------------------

Tcl Blend is a Tcl Extension that allows you to have access to the
Java VM from the Tcl interpreter.  The goal here is to allow Tcl
developers to write new Tcl extensions in Java rather then C or C++
for better portability.  Currently, Tcl Blend is only known to work
with Solaris and Windows 95/NT.  However, it should be easy to port
Tcl Blend to any system that supports dynamic loading and the Java JNI
interface.

For additional information:
---------------------------------

Scriptics Corporation maintains the download site for Jacl and Tcl
Blend.  This site contains a variety of information about Tcl & Java
integration: including FAQs, man pages, and the binary and source
distributions for Jacl and Tcl Blend.  Please visit the following URL:

    http://www.scriptics.com/java

Christopher Hylands maintains his own page that lists a plethora of
information.  There are links to related Web pages, his own personal
notes about building and using Jacl and Tcl Blend, and in depth
explanations about Tcl and Java integration.  This information can be
found at the following URL:

    http://ptolemy.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cxh/java/tclblend

Comments and questions can be sent to the Tcl & Java integration
mailing list at:

    tcljava@tclconsortium.org

Of course, you will need to join the mailing list first. You can do
so by sending an email to this address.

    tcljava-request@tclconsortium.org

Scriptics support for Jacl and Tcl Blend:
-------------------------------------------------

It is important to understand that this release is due entirely to the
efforts of Christopher Hylands and Mo DeJong. Scriptics currently has
a minor, facilitating role in Jacl and Tcl Blend and is not officially
supporting these releases.

If you have a problem with Jacl or Tcl Blend or you think you have
a great idea for a feature, you should send an email to the tcljava
mailing list. Please do not send email directly to the authors.

Credits
---------
The Jacl and Tcl Blend releases are brought to you by:

 Mo DeJong
 Christopher Hylands
 Bryan Surles

We would like to thank the Jacl and Tcl Blend 1.0 team:

 Ray Johnson: Project Manager
 Melissa Hirschl
 Ioi Lam
 Bryan Surles

And a special thanks to Scott Stanton who implemented Tcl Blend, and
to John Reekie of UC Berkeley.