REXX: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 18:51, 8 October 2018

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.

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.

OS/2 Implementations and tools

IBM Object REXX - Discontinued
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

Rexx2Nrx - Converts SAA REXX code to NetRexx - Open Source - Discontinued

DOS Implementations

BREXX - Open Source - Current
PC DOS REXX - Commercial - included in IBM PC DOS versions 7 and higher
Compact Rexx (CRX) - Open source - Discontinued
Personal REXX - Commercial - Discontinued
Portable Rexx - Commercial - Discontinued
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
FTE - Has support for syntax highlighting, code folding and syntax-aware autoindent. - Open source - Current

Win-OS/2 implementations

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.

Ian Collier's REXX tutorial
Vladimír Zábrodský: An Introduction To The REXX Programming Language (OS/2.cz)
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
Ian Collier's REXX page
IBM REXX page
Mark Hessling's Home Page - Lots of Rexx and Regina information and files from the gent behind Regina REXX, including a Rexx manual
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.
Cosmos Grammaticus - REXX related blog

USENET: comp.lang.REXX
REXX LA forum - The official REXX Language Association forum
REXXLIST - Long running list

Standards

ANSI standard for Rexx (X3.274), Published in 1996.
Extended REXX proposal - Published in 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.
norrsken data teknik eCS tools - Helge Nordmann's REXX utility collection.
PLEAC-REXX - Collection of common REXX rutines
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, on rosettacode.org - Contains many REXX snippets.

@@ Line 25: / Line 25: @@
 ;Utilities and translators
 * Rexx2Nrx - Converts SAA REXX code to NetRexx - Open Source - Discontinued
-;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://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]].
-* [[Get Usenet News Articles Using REXX, Network News Transfer Protocol and Sockets]]
-* [[Harold Zbiegien's date algorithms in REXX]]
-* [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.
-* [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]
-* [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]]
-* [[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.
-* [[Update Homepage]]
 ==DOS Implementations==
@@ Line 83: / Line 67: @@
 * [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
-* [http://www.srehttp.org/ SRE-HTTP] - A web server written primarily in REXX
 ;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] - Published in 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://dhost.info/zabrodskyvlada/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://www.norrsken-data-teknik.com/eCS/index.html norrsken data teknik eCS tools] - Helge Nordmann's REXX utility collection.
+* [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]
+* [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], [http://rosettacode.org/mw/index.php?title=Special%3ASearch&search=Walter+Pachl&go=Go on rosettacode.org] - Contains many REXX snippets.
 [[Category:Programming Languages]]