From Newsgroup: comp.lang.tcl

Is there an option to create rectangles and ovals on a canvas with
"wiggly" lines?

Like this one: https://justpaste.it/evtxo

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From Newsgroup: comp.lang.tcl

On 7/23/2026 8:25 AM, saito wrote:

Is there an option to create rectangles and ovals on a canvas with "wiggly" lines?

Like this one: https://justpaste.it/evtxo

Would a solution by claude be acceptable? For fun, I like to pose these questions, and I got a rather nice solution in just two requests. Both requests produced working code, but my first one was poorly thought out. Here's the example code given for the 2nd spec:

canvas .canvas -width 400 -height 300 -background white
pack .canvas

set b1 [wigglyBox .canvas 20 20 150 80 -amplitude 5 -fill lightyellow -outline black]
set b2 [wigglyBox .canvas 200 60 120 100 -amplitude 8 -segments 10 -outline darkred -linewidth 3]

puts "created: $b1"
puts "created: $b2"

# later, e.g.:
# .canvas itemconfigure $b1 -fill orange
# .canvas delete $b2



Here's the shared link of my 2 requests and the code generated.

https://claude.ai/share/e7af0c4c-7be6-4c81-98f6-73af9b48893f

-E


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From Newsgroup: comp.lang.tcl

On 7/23/2026 3:50 PM, et99 wrote:

On 7/23/2026 8:25 AM, saito wrote:

Is there an option to create rectangles and ovals on a canvas with
"wiggly" lines?

Like this one: https://justpaste.it/evtxo

Would a solution by claude be acceptable? For fun, I like to pose these questions, and I got a rather nice solution in just two requests. Both requests produced working code, but my first one was poorly thought out. Here's the example code given for the 2nd spec:

Wow! That is impressive - both your inputs and the claude output.
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From Newsgroup: comp.lang.tcl

* et99 <et99@rocketship1.me>
| On 7/23/2026 8:25 AM, saito wrote:
| > Is there an option to create rectangles and ovals on a canvas with "wiggly" lines?
| > Like this one: https://justpaste.it/evtxo

| Would a solution by claude be acceptable? For fun, I like to pose
| these questions, and I got a rather nice solution in just two
| requests.
--<snip-snip>--
| Here's the shared link of my 2 requests and the code generated.

| https://claude.ai/share/e7af0c4c-7be6-4c81-98f6-73af9b48893f

I would have coded something along that wigg^H^H^H^Hline... :-)

Just being curious: how long did it take to the working 2nd version?
Really just these two prompts?

R'
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From Newsgroup: comp.lang.tcl


saito <saitology9@gmail.com> posted:

Wow! That is impressive - both your inputs and the claude output.

For framing pictures, you have a more elegant solution (and crafted by
a human !) :

https://wiki.tcl-lang.org/page/Photo+Frames

Olivier.
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From Newsgroup: comp.lang.tcl

On 7/24/2026 2:31 AM, Ralf Fassel wrote:

Just being curious: how long did it take to the working 2nd version?
Really just these two prompts?

R'

Yes, that was the entire interaction. 5-10 minutes with the time to copy/paste the code and the example separately into a file and test. At first, I was concentrating only on the wiggly box, yet claude realized it was actually a canvas that was needed. From that I saw my mistake and only needed to correct that. I didn't need to repeat the entire request. The wiggly part was good enough.

So it automatically translated my "do it as a widget", to "do it as a canvas object", thus returning a canvas tag rather than a widget handle. The notes suggested some other uses of the tags including mouse dragging.

I do operate with a $20/month paid subscription (Sonnet 5 medium). Before I had the subscription, I would get frustrated when my free window would expire - needing to wait an hour or two. I also have a $20 buffer which I can use to extend a session if I need to. The few times I've needed that $1 or $2 would get me to a more convenient stopping point.

-E

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From Newsgroup: comp.lang.tcl

On 7/24/2026 12:55 PM, et99 wrote:

Yes, that was the entire interaction. 5-10 minutes with the time to copy/paste the code and the example separately into a file and test. At

The original request from Saito included rectangles and also ovals. So, I continued with claude, but the ovals took a lot of extra effort. Overall, about an extra hour or two.

The code was generating lobes like 4-leaf-clovers for the ovals. I had claude generate some slider controls to be able to tweak the parameters and have it redraw dynamically. I was able to take a screenshot and paste that back in including the values in the sliders and claude could "see" the results - easier than pasting back intermediate debugging values.

claude then rewrote part of the oval algorithm. The results are now here, you need to use the tiny scroll knob and go to the very bottom then up to the copy buttons. There's also a new examples block.

https://claude.ai/share/8f722006-2f26-40d0-ac5e-d898342eefa6

-e

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From Newsgroup: comp.lang.tcl

On 7/25/2026 2:39 PM, et99 wrote:

On 7/24/2026 12:55 PM, et99 wrote:

Yes, that was the entire interaction. 5-10 minutes with the time to
copy/paste the code and the example separately into a file and test. At

The original request from Saito included rectangles and also ovals. So,
I continued with claude, but the ovals took a lot of extra effort.
Overall, about an extra hour or two.

I am thinking this could just be the best thing that a $20/month can
buy! Better than going to movies on weekends.

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From Newsgroup: comp.lang.tcl

On 7/24/2026 12:49 PM, Olivier wrote:

saito <saitology9@gmail.com> posted:

Wow! That is impressive - both your inputs and the claude output.

For framing pictures, you have a more elegant solution (and crafted by
a human !) :

https://wiki.tcl-lang.org/page/Photo+Frames

Olivier.

Thank you - this is a nice trick. The solution by et99 is closest to
what I was imagining. Each box is "wiggled" differently.

Background: I often see these on websites and ads/sales documents and I
always like the way they look. I used to use Comic sans font all the
time in my ppt's so it brings back some memories.


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From Newsgroup: comp.lang.tcl

On 7/25/2026 12:44 PM, saito wrote:

On 7/25/2026 2:39 PM, et99 wrote:

On 7/24/2026 12:55 PM, et99 wrote:

Yes, that was the entire interaction. 5-10 minutes with the time to copy/paste the code and the example separately into a file and test. At

The original request from Saito included rectangles and also ovals. So, I continued with claude, but the ovals took a lot of extra effort. Overall, about an extra hour or two.

I am thinking this could just be the best thing that a $20/month can buy! Better than going to movies on weekends.

The only problem is it's difficult to know when to stop EfyA

I've wrapped it up and created a new repository:

https://github.com/rocketship88/wigglyshapes

Actually, I should give 98% of the credit to Claude, who wrote the readme, which is very nicely formatted. That's the best part of developing with Claude, since Claude then knows everything about the project and can easily document it. I didn't change one word of his readme.

It's tested under 8.6 in my linux VM and windows 9.1.

This was indeed a fun project.

-E

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From Newsgroup: comp.lang.tcl

On 24/07/2026 20:55, et99 wrote:
<snipped away stuff about canvas shapes>

I do operate with a $20/month paid subscription (Sonnet 5 medium).
Before I had the subscription, I would get frustrated when my free
window would expire - needing to wait an hour or two. I also have a $20 buffer which I can use to extend a session if I need to.-a The few times I've needed that $1 or $2 would get me to a more convenient stopping point.

I've been leaning on claude.io quite a lot recently, using a free plan.
It seems to have switched me on to Sonnet 5 Medium recently. (I tend to
use one "chat" until quota expiry times become unacceptably short and
then start another. I see that before my most recent chat I was on
Sonnet 4.6 Low.) I'm really impressed with Claude (particularly Sonnet 5).

How much better than the free plan is your $20/month subscription?

It feels to me that there are two quotas, one based on time, and one on complexity. I find I can sustain a session for three or four hours
before one or other expires, to compound the irritation, after waiting
for an hour or two for that one to replenish the other promptly expires
after one message and then takes four to six hours to renew.
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From Newsgroup: comp.lang.tcl

On 7/27/2026 10:51 AM, Alan Grunwald wrote:

On 24/07/2026 20:55, et99 wrote:
<snipped away stuff about canvas shapes>

I do operate with a $20/month paid subscription (Sonnet 5 medium). Before I had the subscription, I would get frustrated when my free window would expire - needing to wait an hour or two. I also have a $20 buffer which I can use to extend a session if I need to.-a The few times I've needed that $1 or $2 would get me to a more convenient stopping point.

I've been leaning on claude.io quite a lot recently, using a free plan. It seems to have switched me on to Sonnet 5 Medium recently. (I tend to use one "chat" until quota expiry times become unacceptably short and then start another. I see that before my most recent chat I was on Sonnet 4.6 Low.) I'm really impressed with Claude (particularly Sonnet 5).

How much better than the free plan is your $20/month subscription?

It feels to me that there are two quotas, one based on time, and one on complexity. I find I can sustain a session for three or four hours before one or other expires, to compound the irritation, after waiting for an hour or two for that one to replenish the other promptly expires after one message and then takes four to six hours to renew.

You can find your usage with this url and it also has info on the limits - I'm assuming this will work on the free plan as well.

https://claude.ai/settings/usage

They have a current session limit (resets every 5 hours) and a weekly limit and reset.

There seems to be some kind of "computing" unit, and using a "smarter" model would use up more units per request. You can change your model easily to get more usage with a lesser model if it works for you. For coding, I just kinda picked a middle of the road model. I have noticed that his tcl coding is better lately. I no longer need to remind him of some errors, like forgetting ;# and just doing a # with on the line comments.

Since I've been on the pro plan $20/mon for 6 months now, I've only run up against one limit and used about $4 for some extra time. The pro plan does get you extra computing during each of the time limits.

-E
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