Recs.
Updated
Tcl is a combination of a scripting language and interpreter, it can be used for desktop applications, embedded applications, web server with TclHttpd etc.
See tutorial here, also see: Tk.
SpecsUpdate
Pros
Pro Rich scripting capabilities on a single line
Want to run something 5 times? Here you go: set i 0; time { puts done-[incr i] } 5
If you need real conditional cycle? Not a problem: for {set ready 0; set i 1} {$i <= 100 && !$ready} {incr i} { if {[exec do-some-thing] eq "ready" } {set ready 1} }
Want to measure performance of something or repeat it max 300 times and not longer than 1 seconds? Very simple: timerate { after 20 } 1000 300
How about notifying yourself when some http-server is back online? Sure thing: while {[catch { close [socket localhost 80] }]} { after 1000 }; puts "\7\7\7ONLINE!"
And you can do it also fully asynchronously using events etc.
Cons
Con It is an Ada derived language and thus it belongs to an outdated family of languages
While Algol-Pascal based languages ruled the spectrum of programming some decades ago, recommending some one to learn an Ada, which is a Pascal, as the language to easily learn, wouldn't be an optimum choice.