REXX: Difference between revisions

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
Vendor	Implementation	OS/2	DOS	Win16	Win32	Notes
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.

Ian Collier's REXX tutorial
Vladimír Zábrodský: An Introduction To The REXX Programming Language
Keith Watts: 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
REXX: THE LANGUAGE - Introduction and tutorial by James Barry of Kyla Computing.
Matt Slocum: Rexx Programming Guide - Nov 2005

Links

The Rexx Language Association
Style Guide for Rexx
Mark Hessling's Home Page - Lots of Rexx and Regina information and files from the gent behind Regina REXX, including a Rexx manual
Tips & Tricks, Samples - Material collected by a mainframe REXX programmer and some of it does not apply to OS/2 REXX.
Cosmos Grammaticus - REXX related blog

USENET: comp.lang.REXX
REXX LA forum - The official REXX Language Association forum

Standards

ANSI standard for Rexx (X3.274), published in 1996.
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.

Album of Algorithms and Techniques for Standard Rexx - Vladimír Zábrodský's collection of REXX code, mostly small snippets.
Mark's MVS Utilities - While mostly XEDIT and MVS related, there are a few worthwhile REXX programs in there as well.
PLEAC-REXX - Collection of common REXX routines
REXX examples from Rob van der Woude's Scripting homepage
Rex Swain's B2MMDDYY.REX - Convert Base format date to MM/DD/YYYY
Walter Pachl's REXX code, contains many REXX snippets.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 [[Image:Rexxlogo.png|250px|right]]
-An interpreted, procedural structured language that is included with every version of OS/2 1.2EE 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.
+'''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.
@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 In 1989 the first version of IBM CMS REXX Compiler was released.
-'''[[Object REXX]]''' is a later version of the language that has been given object-oriented extensions modelled on those present in [[Smalltalk]] (IBM's language of choice at the time), while it is mostly compatible with Classic REXX there are some minor differences that mean that most larger REXX programs have to have at the least some modifications to run correctly under OREXX, and this has meant that in the OS/2 world it never gained any real traction. '''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.
+'''[[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.
-==OS/2 Implementations and tools==
+'''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.
-*[[Object REXX]] - Open source - OS/2 version discontinued, but older version shipped with OS/2 Warp 4.
-*[[Personal REXX]] - Commercial - Discontinued
-*[[Regina REXX]] - Compatible with Classic REXX - Open Source - Current
-*[[Procedures Language/2 REXX]] (aka SAA REXX) - Development discontinued, but shipped with all OS/2 32-bit versions.
-====Utilities and translators====
+==Implementations==
-* Rexx2Nrx - Converts SAA REXX code to NetRexx - Open Source - Discontinued
+{|class="wikitable"
+!rowspan=2|Vendor||rowspan=2|Implementation||colspan=4|Operating environment||rowspan=2|Notes
-====REXX 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.
+!OS/2||DOS||Win16||Win32
-* [http://dhost.info/zabrodskyvlada/aat/ Album of Algorithms and Techniques for Standard Rexx]  - [[Vladimír Zábrodský]]'s collection of REXX code, mostly small snippets.
+|-
-* [[BuildSOM]] - Creates program and folder objects via [[SOM]].
+|rowspan=3|IBM||[[Procedures Language 2/REXX]]||X|| || || ||(aka SAA REXX) shipped with OS/2
-* [[Get Usenet News Articles Using REXX, Network News Transfer Protocol and Sockets]]
+|-
-* [[Harold Zbiegien's date algorithms in REXX]]
+|[[REXXPC88]]|| ||X|| || ||IBM internal (1987/88)
-* [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://www.norrsken-data-teknik.com/eCS/index.html norrsken data teknik eCS tools] - Helge Nordmann's REXX utility collection.
+|[[PC DOS REXX]]|| ||X|| || ||introduced with IBM [[PC DOS]] 7
-* [http://pleac.sourceforge.net/pleac_rexx/index.html PLEAC-REXX] - Collection of common REXX rutines
+|-
-* [http://www.robvanderwoude.com/rexxexamples.php REXX examples from Rob van der Woude's Scripting homepage]
+|Quercus||[[Personal REXX]]||X||X||X|| ||Commercial
-* [http://www.rexswain.com/b2mmddyy.rex Rex Swain's B2MMDDYY.REX] - Convert Base format date to MM/DD/YYYY
+|-
-* [[Send Mail to an Email List with REXX, SMTP and Sockets]]
+| ||[[Regina REXX]]||X||X|| || ||Compatible with Classic REXX - Open Source
-* [[Stupid OS/2 Tricks/REXX Commands]]
+|-
-* [http://www.wpachl.at/Rexx_Programs.html Walter Pachl's REXX code], [http://rosettacode.org/mw/index.php?title=Special%3ASearch&search=Walter+Pachl&go=Go on rosettacode.org] - Contains many REXX snippets.
+| ||[[BREXX]]|| ||X|| || ||Open Source
-* [[Update Homepage]]
+|-
+| ||Compact Rexx (CRX)|| ||X|| || ||Open source
-==DOS Implementations==
+|-
-* [[BREXX]] - Open Source - Current
+|Kilowatt Software||Portable Rexx|| ||X|| || ||Commercial
-* [[PC DOS REXX]] - Commercial - included in IBM PC DOS versions 7 and higher
+|-
-* [http://speleotrove.com/rexxhist/rexxcrx.html Compact Rexx (CRX)] - Open source - Discontinued
+| ||WinREXX|| || ||X|| ||Commercial
-* [[Personal REXX]] - Commercial - Discontinued
+|-
-*Portable Rexx - Commercial - Discontinued
+| ||WREXX|| || ||X|| ||Commercial
-* [[Regina REXX]] - Compatible with classic REXX -  Open Source - Current
+|}
-*REXXPC88 - 1987/88 IBM internal
 ===Text editor support===
-* [[Boxer]] - Regina, IBM and BREXX support included by default
+*[[Boxer]] - Regina, IBM and BREXX support included by default
-* [[FTE]] - Has support for syntax highlighting, code folding and syntax-aware autoindent. - Open source - Current
+*[[FTE]] - support for syntax highlighting, code folding and syntax-aware autoindent.
-===REXX implementations that run under WinOS/2===
-*[[Object REXX]] - Open source - Win32s version discontinued - IBM versions supported running under Win3x with Win32s.
-*[[Personal REXX]] - Commercial - Discontinued
-*WinREXX - Commercial - Discontinued
-*WREXX - Commercial - Discontinued
-==Java implementations==
-* [[NetRexx]]
 ==Publications==
 For listings of REXX related books and general articles see the [[REXX Bibliography]].
 * [http://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/people/ian.collier/Docs/rexx_info/whole.html Ian Collier's REXX tutorial]
-* [[Vladimír Zábrodský]]: ''[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]]: ''[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
+* [[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.
-* [http://www.lesbell.com.au/rexxobj.html Using REXX to repair and control the desktop] - From Les Bell and Associates Pty Ltd
 * Matt Slocum: [http://www.sloky.net/programming/Rexx.rtf Rexx Programming Guide] - Nov 2005
-;Czech language tutorials
-* [[Vladimír Zábrodský]]: ''[http://dhost.info/zabrodskyvlada/cz_introrexx.html Úvod do programovacího jazyka REXX]'' - Short tutorial introduction to REXX in Czech.
 ==Links==
 * [http://www.rexxla.org The Rexx Language Association]
-* [http://users.comlab.ox.ac.uk/ian.collier/Rexx/index.html Ian Collier's REXX page]
+* [https://erroneousbee.github.io/Computers/RexxStyleGuide.html Style Guide for Rexx]
-* [http://www-01.ibm.com/software/awdtools/rexx/ IBM REXX page]
 * [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
-* [http://www.spgmbh.de/tipstricks_en.htm REXX Tips & Tricks] - In English & German, not to be confused with our [[REXX Tips & Tricks]], this is material collected by a mainframe REXX programmer and some of it does not apply to OS/2 REXX.
+* [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.
 * [http://cosmosgrammaticus.blogspot.co.uk/ Cosmos Grammaticus] - REXX related blog
 * USENET: [news:comp.lang.rexx comp.lang.REXX]
 * [http://www.rexxla.org/forum.html REXX LA forum] - The official [[REXX Language Association]] forum
-* [https://listserv.uga.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=REXXLIST REXXLIST] - Long running list
-;Built with REXX
+;Standards
-* [http://www.srehttp.org/ SRE-HTTP] - A web server written primarily in REXX
+* [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)
-;Standards
+;Source code snippets, archives and collections
-* [http://www.rexxla.org/rexxlang/standards/j18pub.pdf ANSI standard for Rexx (X3.274)], Published in 1996.
+Small programs or routines that you can integrate into your own programs or study to learn from, but are not delivered in library form.
-* [https://archive.org/details/ProgrammingLanguageExtendedRexx Extended REXX proposal] - Published in 1998
+* [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]]