Free Rexx !

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Rexx (but were afraid to ask)

Howard Fosdick
(C) 2006 FCI Version 2.0

Who Am I?

Presentation by Howard Fosdick,

author of Rexx Programmers Reference

Find the book at www. Amazon.com/rexx
This presentation is published under the Open

Publication License (OPL).

Viewpoint / Purpose

All languages have their strengths & roles Not here to put down other languages Here to present Rexxs strengths and

discuss where it fits in your toolbox Goals: (1) Know where Rexx fits (2) Teach you to script it in < 2 hours !

Outline

1. 2. 3. 4.

Why Scripting ? Why Rexx ? Rexx Tutorial Further Info

I. Why Scripting ?

2 Big Software Trends Converge

Ka-Boom!
Free and Open Source Perl, Python, Rexx, Tcl/Tk, Bash, Korn, Ruby, others Scripting

Java, C/C++, COBOL

Visual Basic, VBScript, WSH

Whats a Scripting Language ?

Rexx:

General purpose
Free / open source Universal

Interpreted High-level Glue language

Portable code Transferable skills

Standardized (8 of 9 free Rexxes meet stds) Dynamic Sizing (variables & arrays) Memory management No variable declarations No data typing Integrated debugger

Scripting Vs. Traditional Languages

Scripting ----High level Interpretive More productive Varying degrees of automatic variable management -- Shifts burden to the machine -- Glue languages -- Acceptable execution speed Rexx, Perl, Python, Tcl/Tk, Ruby, others

Traditional --------Lower level Compiled More detail-oriented Manual variable management Pre-declared variables More programmer effort Coding languages Optimize execution speed C/C++, COBOL, Java, Pascal, others

When to Use Rexx

Yes
-- Productivity -- Reliability -- Quick development -- Glue language -- Prototyping -- Systems administration -- OS extensions -- Portable apps -- Mainframe migrations -- Embedded programming -- Handhelds -- Text processing -- Interactive development / debugging

No

-- Optimal execution speed is required -- Systems -level programming (No BIOS interrupts, direct addressing, etc.)

Performance
Ratio of compiler to interpreter speed remains constant while processor speeds increase exponentially
200k

3M

10k 70 Year-- 1981 Mhz-- 4.77 CPU-- 8088 4k

1988 8 386

1993 66 486

1998 266 PII

2005 3 ghz PIV

II. Why Rexx ?

Why Rexx Vs Other Scripting Languages ?

Easy but Powerful Powerful Easy

Ease of use benefits experienced developers ...

FAST coding ! Reliable code Easy to code right out of memory Maintainable code

70%+ of IT does maintenance This determines your codes longevity Saves your company $$$

Why Rexx Vs Other Scripting Languages ?

Power Conflict !

Simplicity

Rexx uses specific technologies to tie them together

Power Through Simplicity by

Small instruction set, w/ power in the functions Extensible Call external functions just like internal Glue language (uses OS commands, interfaces, DLLs, shared libraries, services, objects, etc.)

Minimal syntax Minimal special characters, variables, etc. Automated memory management Automated variable management No data definitions No data typing Dynamic array sizes Dynamic string or variable lengths

Power Through Simplicity

Rexx presents a radically different philosophy on how to achieve power than the Unix tradition languages (Perl, Bash, Korn, Awk, etc.)

Rexx presents a unique scripting paradigm

The Language Structure Makes Rexx Easy

Operators
Arithmetic Comparison Logical String

2 dozen Instructions

70 Built-in Functions
Other Features

Learn from the inside out

OS commands, external functions, DLLs, APIs, widgets, etc.

Rexx Runs Everywhere

Linux-Unix-BSD-Windows-Mac OS-DOS Handhelds-all versions all versions all versions all versions all versions all versions (32- and 16- bit), IBM PC-DOS 2000 and 7 Windows CE / Mobile / PPC / etc, Palm OS, Symbian/EPOC32, EPOC, DOS emulation

Embedded--

Embedded Linux, DOS, Windows variants

Mainframes-- z/OS, z/VM, z/VSE (all versions) IBM iSeries-- i5/OS, OS/400 (all versions) Many others-- AmigaOS, AROS, MorphOS, OpenVMS, BeOS, OpenEdition, AtheOS/Syllable, SkyOS, QNX (QNX4/QNX6), OS/2, eCS, osFree, more

Rexx predominates on systems in red

Rexx Has Critical Mass...

Perl Python Rexx, Tcl/Tk, Ruby Critical mass

Many other good languages (Korn, C-shell, bash, Bourne, Lua, Mumps, etc)

Do not have critical mass

Open source, general purpose scripting languages with critical mass -* Run everywhere (on all major OSs and platforms) * Have strong standards * Enjoy wide use and offer good support * Internationally * In many spoken languages * Offer thousands of free tools and scripts * Interface to everything (databases, web programming, GUIs, etc, etc)
NOTE-- The chart excludes non-open source (eg VB, VBScript) and non-general purpose (eg PHP) scripting languages

The Free Rexx Interpreters

Regina All major operating systems Rexx/imc Unix, Linux, BSD BRexx Windows, DOS (32/16 bit), Windows CE, Linux, Unix, Mac OS, AmigaOS, others Rexx for Palm OS Palm OS

Reginald Windows

r4 Windows Open Object Rexx Linux, Windows, Solaris, AIX

roo!

OOP extensions

NetRexx
Any Java Environment

Windows

Rexx Free Tools and Interfaces

Over 2000 free tools & scripts for Rexx. Examples:

SQL database access GUIs XML Web programming Math libraries Regular Expressions Code managers Communications functions OS interface libraries Graphics Speech, MIDI, sound . . . you name it . . .

III. Lets Code !

Example Script # 1

/*******************************************************************/ /* Find Payments: */ /* Reads accounts lines one by one, and displays overdue */ /* payments (lines containing the phrase PAYMENT_OVERDUE). */ /*******************************************************************/ arg filein do while lines(filein) > 0 input_line = linein(filein) /* Read the input file name*/ /* Do while a line to read */ /* Read an input line */

if pos('PAYMENT_OVERDUE',input_line) > 0 then say 'Found it:' input_line end /* Write line if $ overdue */

Simplicity in this script

Minimal syntax Minimal special characters and variables Free format Use spaces & blank lines however desired Case-insensitive (capitalize however you want)

No explicit file definition File is automatically OPENed and CLOSEd Automatic declaration of variables (see FILEIN and INPUT_LINE) No data typing All variables are strings Numbers are strings that look like numbers Decimal arithmetic (portable, consistent results) Automatic conversions where sensible

What is Power ?
Is it the number of Lines of Code (LOC) ? Can reduce LOC by nesting functions But why write a complex fortune-cookie script ?

Power is not solving the problem in the fewest LOC! Power is a deft script that solves the problem in a reliable, readable, maintainable manner

Example Script # 2

arg filein fgrep PAYMENT_OVERDUE

filein

This script does the same thing as Example #1

The Power of Glue Languages

Rexx evaluates a statement, sends anything that is not Rexx to the external environment (by default this is the OS) Full power of a string-manipulation language to direct external interfaces
Inspect return code, command output, messages, and respond Rexx is a glue language

Structured Control Instructions

If If then else

Do End

Do While Select

Call (case)
Subroutine or Function

Un-Structured Control Instructions

Do Until

Do Forever

Iterate

Leave (goto)

Signal

Rexx Functions
70 Built-in Functions:
String manipulation (character, bit, hex) Word manipulation I/O Numeric Environmental Conversion Other

2 statements access external function library Those functions are then coded just like built-ins

Example Script # 3
/*******************************************************************/ /* Code Lookup: */ /* Looks up the area code for the town the user enters. */ /*******************************************************************/ area. = '' area.CHICAGO = 312 area.HOMEWOOD = 708 area.EVANSTON = 847 do while town <> '' /* Initialize array entries to null */ /* Define a table of area codes */

/* Loop until user enters null line */

say 'For which town do you want the area code?' pull town if town <> '' then do if area.town = '' then say 'Town' town 'is not in my database' else say 'The area code for' town 'is' area.town end end

Simplicity in this script

Array recognized by the period (area.) Do not have to declare arrays or predefine their size Sets all possible elements to null string (area. = ) Subscript array by any arbitrary string (content-addressable memory or associative memory) Arrays can be: Dense or sparse Contain homogenous or heterogeneous elements Represent records or C structs Expand to size of memory Automatic capitalization (pull & array element names) Can always override Rexxs automation

Example Script # 4 (part I)

/* /* /* Find Books: This program illustrates how arrays may be of any dimension in retrieving book titles based on their keyword weightings.
/* Initialize both arrays to all null strings

*/ */ */
*/

keyword. = '' title. = ''

/* The array of keywords to search for among the book descriptors keyword.1 = 'earth' keyword.3 = 'life' ; ; keyword.2 = 'computers' keyword.4 = 'environment'

*/

/* The array of book titles, each having several descriptors

title.1 = 'Saving Planet Earth' title.1.1 = 'earth' title.1.2 = 'environment' title.1.3 = 'life' title.2 = 'Computer Lifeforms' title.2.1 = 'life' title.2.2 = 'computers' title.2.3 = 'intelligence' title.3 = 'Algorithmic Insanity' title.3.1 = 'computers' title.3.2 = 'algorithms' title.3.3 = 'programming'

*/

Example Script # 4 (part II)

arg weight /* Get number keyword matches required for retrieval */ /* Output header */ */

say 'For weight of' weight 'retrieved titles are:' do j = 1 while title.j <> '' count = 0 do k = 1 while keyword.k <> ''

/* Look at each book

/* Inspect its keywords */

do l = 1 while title.j.l <> '' /* Compute its weight if keyword.k = title.j.l then count = count + 1 end
end

*/

if count >= weight then say title.j end

/* Display titles matching the criteria */

Discussion
Array keyword. is a lookup table or list key/value pairs like Perl or Berkeley DB Array title. is a tree Trees can be balanced or not
DO I = 1 TO n DO UNTIL DO FOREVER DO n BY m WHILE condition FOR x

DO

IF

IF condition THEN DO ... END ELSE DO ... END

Enclose multiple statements within a DO END pair

Create Any Data Structure With Rexx Arrays :

Element 1 Element 2 Element 3 A Simple List or Look-up Table b.1 b.1.1 b.1.2 b.2 b.2.1 b.2.2 b.3 b.3.1 b.3.2 Balanced Tree Key 1 Key 2 Key 3 Value 1 Value 2 Value 3 b.1 b.1.1 b.1.1.1 b.1.1.2 b.2 b.2.1 b.2.2 b.2.3 b.3 b3.1 b.3.1.1 b.3.1.1.1

Key 4

Value 4

Key-value Pairs

b.1 b.1.1 b.2 b.2.1 b.2.2 b.2.3 b.3 b.4 Un-Balanced Tree

A Multi-level Tree (unbalanced)

Also: linked list, doubly linked list, stack, queue, dequeue, etc...

Example-- Creating a Linked List

list.0 list.1 list.2 list.3 = = = = HEAD 'a' 'b' TAIL ; ; ; ; list.0.next list.1.next list.2.next list.3.next = = = = 1 2 3 TAIL /* Define linked list. /* You could also /* create it /* dynamically. */ */ */ */

call display_linked_list list.99 = 'after a, before b' list.99.next = 2 list.1.next = 99 call display_linked_list exit

/* Display the linked list */ /* Add new item in list /* Point new item to next /* Point to the new item */ */ */

/* Display the linked list */

display_linked_list: /* Displays the linked list*/ sub = 0 do while list.sub.next <> TAIL say 'Element:' list.sub sub = list.sub.next end return

Why Rexx Vs Other Scripting Languages ?

For a language that lacks data structures, Rexx sure has a lot of them!

Power thru Simplicity!

IV. More about Rexx

Rexx Standards

Extensions

TRL-2

ANSI

8 of 9 free Rexx interpreters adhere to TRL-2 ANSI adds little beyond TRL-2 Most Rexxes offer extensions Extensions offer OS-specific stuff and other niceties

Rexx Standards

1985

1990

Early 90s

1996

TRL-1

TRL-2

SAA

ANSI

3.50

4.00

5.00

Language Level

The Evolution of Rexx

Object-oriented Rexx

Early 1980s

Mid 1990s

Standard or Classic Rexx

NetRexx
(for Java environments)

Rexx on Handhelds

Native Interpreter: BRexx Rexx for Palm OS Regina

DOS Emulation Interpreter: PocketDOS XTM others BRexx

Windows CE Palm OS Symbian / EPOC32

+ Integrates with... + DOS Services + DOS Applications + Faster + Integrates with native services + Many DOS apps instantly available without any changes

How DOS Emulation Works

Rexx Scripts

Rexx Interpreter
DOS Operating System DOS Emulator

Native operating system

PC Hardware
Each layer runs on top of the one below it

Object-Oriented Rexx Means

Classic Rexx
Classes and Methods PLUS Inheritance & Derivation

Encapsulation
Abstraction Polymorphism

Huge Class Library

Object Rexx Adds to Classic Rexx . . .

Classes and Methods

Complete Object Orientation

Object Rexx

New Instructions

Built-in Objects, Special Variables, many other features

More Functions

New Operators

And Much More

NetRexx
A Rexx-like language Brings Rexx ease of use to Java environment NetRexx scripts use Java classes Script: Classes for use by Java Applets Applications Servlets Java Beans (EJBs) Client & server sides both

NetRexx Goes Beyond Classic Rexx

Classic Rexx
Java environment integration

Object orientation
New instructions Changed and Extended with . . . Data typing (types) Indexed strings Special names Special methods and much more

Developing and Running NetRexx Scripts

To translate, compile and run in one step enter: nrc -run hello

Translate NetRexx source into a Java program Source script Eg: hello.nrx Java file Eg: hello.java Class file Eg: hello.class

Compile Java into bytecode Run

NetRexx interprets and/or compiles. Can generate commented, formatted Java code. Runs under JVM or stand-alone.

V. More Rexx Features

Modularity

How Rexx Supports Modularity

Internal Routines -- Built-in Functions

External Resources -- Extensions and Function Libraries -- Operating System Commands -- Commands to other environments -- External Programs -- API Interfaces to external features -- API into Rexx

-- Functions you develop

-- Subroutines

String Processing Operations

abc + abc abcabc Bifurcation abc abc Splits a string abcabc Concatenation Joins two or more strings

abcabc
Parse Count = 2

Parsing Scans and analyzes a string, may split it into its constituent components Pattern Matching
Find def

abcdef

Identifies patterns in strings

Parsing Operations
By Words Separate by words

By Pattern

Separate ,

using ,

commas

By Numeric Pattern

abc abc abc 1 5 9

Columns:

The Two I/O Modes

Line-oriented

Character-oriented Process one character at a time

Process one line at a time

linein lineout

charin charout

lines

chars

+ More portable

+ Reads special characters

The Stack is both a Stack and a Queue

PUSH PULL, PARSE PULL

QUEUE

Rexxs Stack is a generalized communications mechanism

Rexx Supports Recursion

How Recursion Works
Script X

End Test Fufilled ?

No

Yes

Call Script X

Tip Steps to Good Programming Style

Ect ! Error checking Structured Code

Modularity
Comments Limit Nesting

Spacing & indentation

Good variable names Capitalization

Debugging Options

SAY Instruction

TRACE Instruction in batch mode

Interactive TRACE

+ Quick, informal + Great for simple problems + Requires changing code (adding SAY instructions)

+ Batch script trace + Can set trace level based on user input + Many trace settings available + Good for paperanalysis of a problem

+ Resolves challenging problems + Allows real-time code tests + Programmer-directed interaction resolves problems + Quick & easy, but powerful

Condition / Exception Trapping

signal on condition name label_name

code of the main routine...

label_name: code of the error handling routine...

Conditions: error, failure, halt, novalue, notready, syntax, lostdigits

VI. Conclusions

Conclusions

Free & open source languages have taken over

Scripting is the quiet revolution

Rexx offers Power through Simplicity

Useful addition to your toolbox

Resources
Find everything at www.RexxInfo.org -- download Rexx -- download tools -- tutorials, articles, how-tos -- reference materials

Rexx Programmers Reference at Amazon www.amazon.com/rexx

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