Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!apple!bloom-beacon!bu-cs!bucsb!ckd From: ckd@bucsb.UUCP (Christopher Davis) Newsgroups: comp.lang.rexx Subject: Re: unix version of rexx Message-ID: <2568@bucsb.UUCP> Date: 2 Jun 89 21:47:26 GMT References: <25800@amdcad.AMD.COM> <12004@bcsaic.UUCP> Reply-To: ckd@bucsb.bu.edu (Christopher K Davis) Followup-To: comp.lang.rexx Distribution: comp.lang.rexx Organization: Starfleet Academy, Terra (Sol III) Lines: 33 In article <12004@bcsaic.UUCP> paula@bcsaic.UUCP (Paul Allen) writes: >OK. I give up. This new newsgroup just showed up with a >name that might be an acronym for Remote Execution. But >it's clear from the traffic that I have no idea what rexx >is! I would imagine that many Usenet readers have noticed >the creation of the group, but have no idea what rexx is. > >So, does anybody want to volunteer to post a brief description >of rexx so we will know if there will ever be anything of >interest to those of us who are not VM or Amiga users? Sure, I will... REXX stands for REstructured eXtended eXecutor. I believe that it was originally developed by employees of IBM in Britain (the language manual lists both CENTER() and CENTRE() as the same function... :-). Later, IBM added it to the VM/SP family of stuff (along with XEDIT and all of those things) and it is now the "VM/SP System Product Interpreter." As for the language itself, it is completely untyped, interpreted (at least as far as I've seen), and has some amazing string parsing abilities. [This last is reinforced by bad experiences I've had with COBOL... :-] >Paul >-- >------------------------------------------------------------------------ >Paul L. Allen | pallen@atc.boeing.com >Boeing Advanced Technology Center | ...!uw-beaver!bcsaic!pallen --Chris -- Chris Davis ! ckd@{bu-pub,bucsb,bucsf}.bu.edu ! Disclaimer: you know. Student Consultant ! smghy6c@buacca.{bitnet, bu.edu} ! I don't agree with BU Boston University ! ckd@bucsb.UUCP ! and they reciprocate. -- "I think I need a really good quote to put in my .signature." CKD --