NetRexx

NetRexx is an open source general-purpose programming language. It is a variant of the REXX programming language that runs on the Java virtual machine and in addition to the common REXX features it has simplified syntax in some cases, Java-like object oriented extensions and exception handling, unlimited precision arithmetic, better internet and/or networking integration and the ability to function as either an interpreter or compile to a Java executable.

NetRexx has an interesting history, when IBM was writing their own Java stack on OS/2 in 1995, Mike Cowlishaw implemented a version of REXX that would run under the Java environment, and released it in 1996. This was not only the first external language to be released under the Java system, it did not compile to Java code but to Java bytecode, so it was also the first program to take advantage of the JVM as a runtime environment rather than as a Java environment. NetRexx is written in itself rather than a Java program per se.

Note that even though the syntax is quite similar to REXX the language is in many ways quite different than "Classic REXX" so that even small programs will need to be ported to the environment.

Versions

• Latest Version: 3.04 GA (2015-07-01)

Note, any version of NetRexx appears to work on the Java systems delivered with or for eComStation, however, version 3.03 has problems with some of the Java versions delivered for IBM mainframes while versions before 3.03 have problems running on Java 8 under windows.

• Alternative version: 3.03 GA (2014-06-11)

While 3.04 GA works fine on OS/2 derived operating systems all of the OS/2 specific scripts were removed from the distribution prior to its release, you should at the least keep a copy of 3.03 GA handy in case you need them.

• NetRexx v2.0.5 - Works better on old 1.x Java versions.

Prerequisites

• Java environment version 3 or higher for NetRexx 3.0 or higher.
• Java environment version 1.02 or higher for NetRexx up to version 3.

OS/2 text editors with NetRexx support

• Enhanced Editor - Syntax and NetRexx/Java class highlighting available as a separate download.
  • EPMKWDS.NRX - NetRexx/Java syntax and class highlighting for EPM.
• jEdit - Java based editor - NetRexx 3 syntax highlighting built in - Current.

Links

• RexxLA's NetREXX official homepage

License

• Open source software released under the International Components for Unicode Licence (ICU) v1.8.1., the 1x and most 2.x versions of NetRexx are released under the IBM License Agreement for IBM Employee-Written Software.

Author

• IBM
• RexxLA
• Mike Cowlishaw (Original author)

Publications

• NetRexx books Hobbes
• The EurOS/2 NetRexx page
• Creating Java Applications using NetRexx - IBM RedBook - (1997/09/10)