DigitalSmarties

Open Source

We endorse, use and contribute to Open Source

We have built on open source, and contributed back to it, since the 1990s.

We use open source with custom software to build both open and proprietary solutions, for two reasons: quality and timeliness. Rather than re-inventing the wheel, it is the base we build higher-value work on.

If I have seen further it is by standing on ye shoulders of Giants.

Isaac Newton

So we contribute back, and encourage customers to let us contribute useful work to the projects it came from. That improves the software everyone depends on, ours included.

Involvement

Projects our team members work on

  • Tcl/Tk

    A cross-platform scripting language and GUI toolkit, in continuous use since 1988. It remains a strong choice for integration work, for embedding in an existing application, and for user interfaces that have to run everywhere.

    tcl-lang.org

  • Tclkit

    A complete Tcl/Tk interpreter in a single file, across a wide range of platforms — still the simplest way to put Tcl/Tk on a machine without installing anything.

    equi4.com/tclkit

  • Starkits

    A packaging and deployment mechanism that delivers a scripted application as one self-contained, installation-free file. Steve Landers presented the paper at the 9th Annual Tcl/Tk Conference.

    Read the paper (PDF)

  • Critcl

    Embeds C inside Tcl scripts, compiling it transparently when needed so it can be called like any Tcl procedure — compiled extensions without the cross-platform build apparatus. Co-authored with Jean-Claude Wippler of Equi4 Software.

    Read the paper (PDF)

Papers

Conference papers and talks

Papers and talks by Steve Landers on Tcl/Tk, augmented reality, medical visualisation, cryptography and automated response systems, presented at conferences from 1991 to 2021. PDFs and recordings are linked where they are available.

Building on open foundations

We combine Open Source with custom software to deliver both open and proprietary solutions.

info@digitalsmarties.com