 Scripting with Free Software Rexx implementations
started 3/24/2004; 9:08:12 AM - last post 3/25/2004; 1:19:46 AM
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Chris Rathman - Scripting with Free Software Rexx implementations 
3/24/2004; 9:08:12 AM (reads: 7663, responses: 3)
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| Scripting with Free Software Rexx implementations |
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It's easy to get lost in the world of "little languages" -- quite a few have been written to scratch some itch of a company, individual, or project. Rexx is one of these languages, with a long history of use on IBM operating systems, and good current implementations for Linux and other Free Software operating systems. Rexx occupies a useful ecological niche between the relative crudeness of shell scripting and the cumbersome formality of full systems languages.
Came across this article in a zIWETHEY thread and see that Slashdot also has a thread on Rexx Is Still Strong After 25 years. It's been some time since Rexx was discussed on LtU. Figured it was about time for another LtU mention.
Posted to general by Chris Rathman on 3/24/04; 9:14:51 AM
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Ehud Lamm - Re: Scripting with Free Software Rexx implementations
3/24/2004; 2:13:39 PM (reads: 264, responses: 0)
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/usr/bin/rexx - made me smile...
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Mike Cohen - Re: Scripting with Free Software Rexx implementations
3/24/2004; 3:26:23 PM (reads: 247, responses: 0)
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Even better, just add #!/usr/bin/rexx at the top of the file, chmod 755 and you can run it by name just like any shell script.
I built it in Mac OSX and it works great. I put it in /usr/local/bin though.
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Dan Shappir - Re: Scripting with Free Software Rexx implementations
3/25/2004; 1:19:46 AM (reads: 203, responses: 0)
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<warning>Sentimental stroll down memory lane ahead</warning>
I first encountered Rexx back in 1990 when working on an IBM VM/CMS during my service in the IDF. While most of my programming at the time was done using FORTRAN and Pascal, I just fell in love with it. I remember thinking that it's the best PL I've ever seen (yes, I did learn LISP and Scheme at the University, but unfortunately they did not have a significant impact on me at the time). Rexx was like taking all the best things about procedural programming and mixing them with the interpretive freedom of BASIC.
We were doing our development using the XEdit editor (I think that was the name). We were using 3270 terminals, and this was basically a line editor. But it also supported Rexx as a script language. What a combination!
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