Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!motcid!king
From: king@motcid.UUCP (Steven King)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Arexx(help!)
Message-ID: <2159@grape3.UUCP>
Date: 8 Apr 90 05:01:18 GMT
References: <5782@jarthur.Claremont.EDU>
Organization: Motorola Inc. - Cellular Infrastructure Div., Arlington Heights, IL 60004
Lines: 43

In article <5782@jarthur.Claremont.EDU> tcrevier@jarthur.Claremont.EDU (The Guy With Blue Hair) writes:
>I am not really new to the Amiga world, but I have never really understood
>exactly what it was that Arexx did.  I have some programs that support it
>(A-Talk III for example), but I am not exactly sure what it does.  If
>someone(s) could send me some mail, or post here a brief and fairly low level
>synopsis of Arexx, it would be appreciated.

ARexx is a programming language.  It's nowhere near as powerful as C is,
for example, but it's very good for short little script-type languages.
On the Amiga it's primarily intended to be a high-power replacement for the
CLI scripts we all know and hate. ('execute ...')

One of the main selling points of ARexx is that it has hooks so that other
programs can be written to communicate with ARexx scripts.  For example,
I've got an ARexx script that replaces the ATalk III "CHAT" emulation
with something infinitely better.  ARexx can also access all normal AmigaDOS
commands, giving you complete control over the machine.

IMHO ARexx is truly incredible at parsing input, at taking an input string
and splitting it into whatever components you want.  I use it mostly to
write quick and dirty filters to get a file from how it is to how I want
it.

I've had experience with Rexx on IBM mainframes, where it was born and
raised.  ARexx seems to be quite a faithful implementation, and is in some
ways easier to use.  (Ever try to use EXECIO on an IBM mainframe?  *shudder*)
The manual that comes with ARexx is an excellent reference manual, but
it's NOT a tutorial.  Personally, I perfer learning from reference manuals,
but that's not for everyone.  And like I said, I already knew Rexx before
I laid eyes on ARexx...

While I said ARexx is best for short little scripts, I don't mean to imply
that that's all it's good for.  I've seen some truly incredible uses of
Rexx on the IBMs, including a full-featured multi-user chat host program
and several end-user chat programs.  Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but
I think the RELAY code on Bitnet is written in Rexx.  It's quite powerful
once you get the hang of it.

-- 
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If all you do in life are important things, then   | Steve King  (708) 991-8056
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