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I only came across TCL as the scripting language used internally by the F5 (BigIP) load balancer. Writing irules was fine because they are usually one and done. It was tempting to try to do complicated things until you realized that was exactly the wrong place to try to fix the underlying problems of a broken web application.

Is Tcl widely used in semiconductors because of a particular thing it does well or is it mostly because of inertia? I don't know a lot about the language so I'm curious :)

The language originated as a common language for semiconductor design tools.

Ousterhout saw that a number of design tools he was involved with all had ad hoc languages, so he developed Tcl as a single common solution to the 'scripting language problem'. This is partly why the language is designed to be as easily embeddable as it is.

Post this origin, Tcl developed a modicum of broader fame through Tk (one of the best/easiest early X11 toolkits) and expect (which is a tool for automating control of command line interactive tools).

Or have an ancient and undying passion for Eggdrop IRC bots. Eggdrop was an introduction to TCL for dozens of us.

The best thing about TCL is it's not OCEAN.