Well, Tcl enjoyed a bad reputation for a while, mainly due to the "everything's a string" mantra leading some to believe it's not much use beyond that, RMS's flame war against it (which is why we're all using Guile now), and mostly the simple, but slightly odd syntax (expr, array and list functions).
Then you've got to remember that for a while, Sun owned Tcl. Pretty much the same period when they were hyping Java…
Also, the core Tcl distribution was still focused on scripting (embedded or not) and GUI programming with Tk. Modularity back in the days often involved separate interpreters with added featurs (TclX for example).
Compare that to PHP: Basically the same situation regarding additional modules, but they had everything related to simple web development in one package - parsing requests, handling pictures… You could use PHP to do scripting and even GUIs, and you could use Tcl to do web development. But once you're written off as a niche language, it's hard to escape that trap.
We've got a whole bunch of interpreted languages out there, but only a few of them are considered all-purpose languages. Ruby and Python mostly, even Perl has to fight a bit against the Unix scripting preconceptions.
Tcl wouldn't be the first scripting language of that period "lost". Anyone remember Pike or Icon?
Then you've got to remember that for a while, Sun owned Tcl. Pretty much the same period when they were hyping Java…
Also, the core Tcl distribution was still focused on scripting (embedded or not) and GUI programming with Tk. Modularity back in the days often involved separate interpreters with added featurs (TclX for example).
Compare that to PHP: Basically the same situation regarding additional modules, but they had everything related to simple web development in one package - parsing requests, handling pictures… You could use PHP to do scripting and even GUIs, and you could use Tcl to do web development. But once you're written off as a niche language, it's hard to escape that trap.
We've got a whole bunch of interpreted languages out there, but only a few of them are considered all-purpose languages. Ruby and Python mostly, even Perl has to fight a bit against the Unix scripting preconceptions.
Tcl wouldn't be the first scripting language of that period "lost". Anyone remember Pike or Icon?