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==Description==
[[Image:Rexxlogo.png|250px|right]]
Procedural structured language that is included with every version of OS/2 1.3 and higher, every version of IBM PC-DOS 7.0 and higher and most modern [[Amiga OS]] variants and clones. Although REXX is a generic programming language and can be (and has been) used to construct everything from simple utilities to large business applications, it is  primarily used as a scripting or macro language. REXX language was created by Mike Cowlishaw of [[IBM]] Hursley in 1979 and the first implementation was shipped inside IBM in 1980 and as an external product in 1982.
'''REXX''' is an interpreted, procedural structured language that is included with every version of OS/2 EE 1.2 and later, IBM PC-DOS 7.0 and most AmigaOS variants and clones in addition to all current and recent IBM mainframe and minicomputer operating systems.


==A list of OS/2 implementations of REXX==
Although REXX is a generic programming language and can be (and has been) used to construct everything from simple utilities to large business applications, it is  primarily used as a scripting or macro language, and as such is unusually easy to learn.
* [[Object REXX]]
* [[Personal REXX]] - Commercial - Discontinued
* [[Regina REXX]] - Open Source - Current
* [[Classic REXX|REXX/2]] aka Classic REXX - Development discontinued, but shipped with all OS/2 32 bit versions and eComStation.


====Libraries and bindings====
==History==
The REXX language was created by [[Mike Cowlishaw]] in 1979 under VM/CMS. The second implementation (2.00) was used inside IBM in 1980. Language level 3.20 was included in [[VM/SP]] Release 3 which was released in 1983.


====Graphical front ends and REXX development systems====
Third party implementations started appearing in 1985.
* [[VX-REXX]]
====Editors with REXX support====
* [[Boxer]]
* [[FTE]]
* [[Future Wave Editor]]
* [[jEdit]] - Java editor
* [[KEDIT]]


==A list of DOS implementations of REXX==
In 1987 REXX was chosen to be the [[Systems Application Architecture]] (SAA) procedural language.
* [[BREXX]] - Open Source - Current
* [[Classic REXX]] - Commercial - Comes with PC-DOS versions 5 and higher.
* [http://speleotrove.com/rexxhist/rexxcrx.html Compact Rexx (CRX)] - Open source - Discontinued.
* [[Personal REXX]] - Commercial - Discontinued
* [[Portable Rexx]] - Commercial - Discontinued
* [[Regina REXX]] - Open Source - Current


==A list of REXX implementations that run under WinOS/2==
In 1989 the first version of IBM CMS REXX Compiler was released.
* [[Personal REXX]] - Commercial - Discontinued
 
* [[WinREXX]] - Commercial - Discontinued
'''[[Object REXX]]''' is a different language that has been given object-oriented extensions modelled on those present in [[Smalltalk]]. While it is mostly compatible with Classic REXX there are some minor differences. It means that some REXX programs have to be modified to run correctly under Object REXX.
* [[WREXX]] - Commercial - Discontinued
 
==A list of REXX implementations that run under Java==
'''Amiga REXX''' is a clone of IBM's Classic REXX that has extensions to help its use as a mechanism for application to application and/or inter-application communication, [[Regina REXX]] supports those extensions.
* [[NetRexx]]
==A list of REXX implementations in JavaScript==
*
==Publications==
;Classic REXX Books.
* Michael F. Cowlishaw: The REXX Language: A Practical Approach to Programming; Second Edition - 1990 - ISBN: 0137806515 - In print
* Michael F. Cowlishaw: Die Programmiersprache REXX - 1988 - ISBN: 3446151958 - Out of print - German translation of the first edition of the above book.
* Michael F. Cowlishaw: Rekkusu gengo nyumon: puroguraminguhe no jissenteki apurochi (Translated by Yoichi Muraoka and Koji Shibano) - 1987 - ISBN: 4-7649-0136-6 - Japanese translation of the first edition of the above.
* Michael F. Cowlishaw: [https://assets.cs.ncl.ac.uk/seminars/229.pdf A Practical Approach to Programming the Rexx Language] - 1985 - ISBN: 0-13-780735-X - Out of print.
* Howard Fosdick: Rexx Programmer's Reference - 2005 - ISBN: 0764579967 - In print
* William F. Schindler: Down to Earth REXX - 2000 - ISBN: 0967759005 - In print.
* Gabriel F. Gargiulo: Mastering OS/2 Rexx - 1994 - ISBN: 0471519014 - In print
* Gabriel F. Gargiulo: Rexx With OS/2, TSO & CMS Features; Quick Reference Guide (Mainframe Technical Series) – 1999 - ISBN: 189255903X - Out of print.
* William F. Schindler: Sams Teach Yourself REXX in 21 Days - 1994 - ISBN: 0672305291 - Out of print ("Down to Earth REXX" above in an updated, in-print version)
* Merrill Callaway: The Rexx Cookbook: A Tutorial Guide to the Rexx Language in OS 2 & Warp on the IBM Personal Computer - 1995 - ISBN: 0963277340 - Out of print.
* Robert O'Hara and David Ross Gomberg: Modern Programming Using REXX - 1988 - ISBN: 0135973295 - Out of print
* Anthony S. Rudd: Application Development Using OS/2 Rexx - 1994 - ISBN: 047160691X - Out of Print.
* Anthony S. Rudd: Practical Usage of REXX (Ellis Horwood Series in Computers and Their Applications) - 1990 -ISBN: 013682790X - Out of print.
* Ronny Richardson: Writing OS/2 REXX Programs (McGraw-Hill/IBM) - 1994 - ISBN: 007052372X - Out of print. (Came with examples on a floppy)
* Richard K. Goran: Rexx Reference Summary Handbook; Second Edition - 1994 - ISBN: 0963985418 - Out of print
* William Mansfield: Rexx Language: Special Edition – 1990 - ISBN: 0137790678 - Out of print.
* Hallett German: OS/2 2.1 REXX Handbook: Basics, Applications and Tips (VNR Computer Library) – 1993 - ISBN: 0442017340 - Out of print.
* Peter C. Kiesel & J.Ranade: REXX: Advanced Techniques for Programmers (McGraw-Hill/IBM) - 1992 - ISBN: 0070346003 - Our of print.


;Object REXX books.
==Implementations==
* Tom Ender: Object-oriented Programming with REXX - 1997 - ISBN: 0471118443 - Out of print.
{|class="wikitable"
* Ueli Wahli, Trevor Turton, Eddie Griborn and Norio Furukawa: Object Rexx for OS/2 Warp - 1996 - ISBN: 0132734672 - Out of print.
!rowspan=2|Vendor||rowspan=2|Implementation||colspan=4|Operating environment||rowspan=2|Notes
|-
!OS/2||DOS||Win16||Win32
|-
|rowspan=3|IBM||[[Procedures Language 2/REXX]]||X|| || || ||(aka SAA REXX) shipped with OS/2
|-
|[[REXXPC88]]|| ||X|| || ||IBM internal (1987/88)
|-
|[[PC DOS REXX]]|| ||X|| || ||introduced with IBM [[PC DOS]] 7
|-
|Quercus||[[Personal REXX]]||X||X||X|| ||Commercial
|-
| ||[[Regina REXX]]||X||X|| || ||Compatible with Classic REXX - Open Source
|-
| ||[[BREXX]]|| ||X|| || ||Open Source
|-
| ||Compact Rexx (CRX)|| ||X|| || ||Open source
|-
|Kilowatt Software||Portable Rexx|| ||X|| || ||Commercial
|-
| ||WinREXX|| || ||X|| ||Commercial
|-
| ||WREXX|| || ||X|| ||Commercial
|}


;The following books apply to SAA or mainframe REXX but may be useful nonetheless:
===Text editor support===
* Charles Daney: Programming in REXX - 1990 - ISBN: 0070153051 - Out of print.
*[[Boxer]] - Regina, IBM and BREXX support included by default
*[[FTE]] - support for syntax highlighting, code folding and syntax-aware autoindent.


====Local articles====
==Publications==
* [[Roger Orr]]: [[OS/2 Procedures Language - REXX]] - Introductory material
For listings of REXX related books and general articles see the [[REXX Bibliography]].
* [[REXX Tips & Tricks:Sources]]
* [[Dave Briccetti]]: [[Sending Mail with REXX]]
=====Code snippets=====
* [[Stupid OS/2 Tricks/REXX Commands]]
====Tutorials and other learning material====
* [http://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/people/ian.collier/Docs/rexx_info/whole.html Ian Collier's REXX tutorial]
* [http://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/people/ian.collier/Docs/rexx_info/whole.html Ian Collier's REXX tutorial]
* [http://www.os2.cz/en/introduction-rexx-programming-language An Introduction To The REXX Programming Language] - From OS/2.cz
* [[Vladimír Zábrodský]]: ''[http://zabrodsky-rexx.byethost18.com/introrexx.html An Introduction To The REXX Programming Language]''
* [[Keith Watts]]: ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20181120094832/http://www.kilowattsoftware.com/tutorial/rexx/ The Classic REXX tutorial]'' - Teaches the language to "Language Level 4.00 (TRL-2)", that is roughly the same as the SAA REXX shipped with OS/2
* [http://www.kyla.co.uk/other/rexx1.htm REXX: THE LANGUAGE] - Introduction and tutorial by James Barry of Kyla Computing.
* Matt Slocum: [http://www.sloky.net/programming/Rexx.rtf Rexx Programming Guide] - Nov 2005


==Links==
==Links==
* [http://users.comlab.ox.ac.uk/ian.collier/Rexx/index.html Ian Collier's REXX page]
* [http://www.rexxla.org The Rexx Language Association]
* [http://www-01.ibm.com/software/awdtools/rexx/ IBM REXX page]
* [https://erroneousbee.github.io/Computers/RexxStyleGuide.html Style Guide for Rexx]
====USENET====
* [http://www.rexx.org Mark Hessling's Home Page] - Lots of Rexx and Regina information and files from the gent behind [[Regina REXX]], including a Rexx manual
* [news:comp.lang.rexx comp.lang.REXX] - Surprisingly popular - Go to the [https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/comp.lang.rexx Google groups version] if you are newsgroup challenged.
* [http://www.spgmbh.de/tipstricks_en.htm Tips & Tricks, Samples] - Material collected by a mainframe REXX programmer and some of it does not apply to OS/2 REXX.
====Built with REXX====
* [http://cosmosgrammaticus.blogspot.co.uk/ Cosmos Grammaticus] - REXX related blog
* [http://www.srehttp.org/ SRE-HTTP] - A web server written primarily in REXX
 
==Standards==
* USENET: [news:comp.lang.rexx comp.lang.REXX]
* ANSI standard for Rexx (X3.274), Published in 1996.
* [http://www.rexxla.org/forum.html REXX LA forum] - The official [[REXX Language Association]] forum
==REXX history==
 
*
;Standards
* [http://www.rexxla.org/rexxlang/standards/j18pub.pdf ANSI standard for Rexx (X3.274)], published in 1996.
* [https://archive.org/details/ProgrammingLanguageExtendedRexx Extended REXX proposal] (Nov 1998)
 
;Source code snippets, archives and collections
Small programs or routines that you can integrate into your own programs or study to learn from, but are not delivered in library form.
* [http://zabrodsky-rexx.byethost18.com/aat/ Album of Algorithms and Techniques for Standard Rexx]  - [[Vladimír Zábrodský]]'s collection of REXX code, mostly small snippets.
* [http://mzelden.com/mvsutil.html Mark's MVS Utilities] - While mostly XEDIT and MVS related, there are a few worthwhile REXX programs in there as well.
* [http://pleac.sourceforge.net/pleac_rexx/index.html PLEAC-REXX] - Collection of common REXX routines
* [http://www.robvanderwoude.com/rexxexamples.php REXX examples from Rob van der Woude's Scripting homepage]
* [http://www.rexswain.com/b2mmddyy.rex Rex Swain's B2MMDDYY.REX] - Convert Base format date to MM/DD/YYYY
* [http://www.wpachl.at/Rexx_Programs.html Walter Pachl's REXX code], contains many REXX snippets.


[[Category:Programming Languages]] [[Category:REXX]]
[[Category:Programming Languages]]

Latest revision as of 18:49, 2 April 2025

REXX is an interpreted, procedural structured language that is included with every version of OS/2 EE 1.2 and later, IBM PC-DOS 7.0 and most AmigaOS variants and clones in addition to all current and recent IBM mainframe and minicomputer operating systems.

Although REXX is a generic programming language and can be (and has been) used to construct everything from simple utilities to large business applications, it is primarily used as a scripting or macro language, and as such is unusually easy to learn.

History

The REXX language was created by Mike Cowlishaw in 1979 under VM/CMS. The second implementation (2.00) was used inside IBM in 1980. Language level 3.20 was included in VM/SP Release 3 which was released in 1983.

Third party implementations started appearing in 1985.

In 1987 REXX was chosen to be the Systems Application Architecture (SAA) procedural language.

In 1989 the first version of IBM CMS REXX Compiler was released.

Object REXX is a different language that has been given object-oriented extensions modelled on those present in Smalltalk. While it is mostly compatible with Classic REXX there are some minor differences. It means that some REXX programs have to be modified to run correctly under Object REXX.

Amiga REXX is a clone of IBM's Classic REXX that has extensions to help its use as a mechanism for application to application and/or inter-application communication, Regina REXX supports those extensions.

Implementations

Vendor Implementation Operating environment Notes
OS/2 DOS Win16 Win32
IBM Procedures Language 2/REXX X (aka SAA REXX) shipped with OS/2
REXXPC88 X IBM internal (1987/88)
PC DOS REXX X introduced with IBM PC DOS 7
Quercus Personal REXX X X X Commercial
Regina REXX X X Compatible with Classic REXX - Open Source
BREXX X Open Source
Compact Rexx (CRX) X Open source
Kilowatt Software Portable Rexx X Commercial
WinREXX X Commercial
WREXX X Commercial

Text editor support

  • Boxer - Regina, IBM and BREXX support included by default
  • FTE - support for syntax highlighting, code folding and syntax-aware autoindent.

Publications

For listings of REXX related books and general articles see the REXX Bibliography.

Links

Standards
Source code snippets, archives and collections

Small programs or routines that you can integrate into your own programs or study to learn from, but are not delivered in library form.

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