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In memoriam: Mats Bengtsson, 1959-2008

The Tcl/Tk community lost an important member when Mats Bengtsson passed away in November 2008.

While not a Tcl/Tk core developer, Mats served an equally important role: he was the author of several widely-used Tcl/Tk packages that extended Tcl/Tk in important ways, and he was also the lead developer of a widely-used Tcl/Tk application that is a model of good UI design.

Among the Tcl/Tk packages that Mats developed or maintained are the following:

• TkPath, which adds SVG capabilities to a canvas-like Tk widget: http://tclbitprint.sourceforge.net/

• QuickTimeTcl, which integrates Tcl with Apple's QuickTime media library: http://quicktimetcl.sourceforge.net/

• MacCarbonPrint, which adds native printing to Tk applications on the Mac: http://tclbitprint.sourceforge.net/maccarbonprint/maccarbonprint.html

• TclSpeech, which wraps the Mac's native speech API: http://tclspeech.sourceforge.net/

• Numerous patches over the years that improved the look and feel of Tk on the Mac, especially dialogs and tk_messageBox

Mats' major Tcl/Tk application is The Coccinella (http://thecoccinella.org/), a Tcl/Tk-based, cross-platform Jabber client. Coccinella is a robust application, but just as importantly, it is beautifully designed and provides a superb user experience. It is the strongest refutation possible of the old complaint that Tcl/Tk is incompatible with attractive applications. (See http://thecoccinella.org/gallery for screenshots.)

Speaking as a Mac developer, I have benefitted enormously from Mats' work. Some of the native touches for Tk on the Mac are the result of his contributions, and his extension packages exposed powerful native API's for Tk development. Just as importantly, Mats used the Mac as his development platform, and he showed that it is possible to develop and deploy first-rate Tk applications on the Mac: Coccinella fits in very well on OS X, as it does on the other major platforms as well. Unfortunately, the Mac platform is often neglected by Tcl/Tk developers who target Windows and Linux, and Mats' commitment to the Mac was an inspiration to other Mac developers, such as myself.

Most of Mats' projects currently lack maintainers. Coccinella, in particular, would benefit from an expanded developer base. Any interested Tcl developers should contact Sander Devrieze, another developer on the project, at the Coccinella site. (I am contributing a few patches to the project, although I lack time to take on a fuller commitment to it.) TkPath is an enormous project with many users; it would be a shame for it to become unmaintained. Some of Mats' Mac-specific projects would benefit from updating as well.

For more information about Mats' life, please see the tribute page to him at Coccinella's website: http://thecoccinella.org/mats-bengtsson

I hope you will all join me in expressing condolences to Mats' family and friends, and in honoring his many contributions to the Tcl/Tk community. He will be greatly missed.

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