Re: Request for CL, DDS, SQL RPG enhancements

Hello Joe,

You wrote:
>Alright, darnit.  After hearing from a vocal minority for quite some
>time about the abilities of REXX, a couple of questions:

>1. Can I ship REXX objects to other machines and be assured that they
>will run under the base OS, or does some "non-standard" licensed product
>need to be installed?  For example, I have to install 5769JC1 to get the
>Java toolbox.

Nothing extra for OS/400.  The Rexx Interpreter is in the base OS.
However Rexx is interpreted so you need to supply the source members.
That can be unsatisfactory from a vendor perspective hence my request for
a Rexx compiler for OS/400 (they exist for VM, MVS, OS/2 and possibly
Winslop).  Still, I doubt that an entire application would be written in
Rexx on the AS/400 even though that is quite possible on other platforms.
If you analyze existing CL, how much of an application is exposed via the
CL source?  The bulk of an application is written in an HLL so supplying
CL source is probably no big deal from an intellectual property point of
view.  Supplying Rexx source is likely to be no more risky.

If Rexx/400 had full I/O support then complete applications could be
written using only Rexx.  Then there would be more demand for a Rexx
compiler.  Note: I/O can be added to Rexx programmatically but I think it
should be a native part of the product.  (I should dust off my old code
that does some of this ...)

(Since a tokenized version of the Rexx source is 'attached' to the Rexx
source member during save or first run, it might be possible to strip the
source from the member but leave the tokenized version in place thus
achieving a level of protection.)

>2. Pure opinion: Where are the best online documents for REXX?  How
>about the best online tutorials and/or examples?

See previous messages to this list re Cowlishaw's book and the IBM Rexx
web site at Hursley.

http:/www2.hursley.ibm.com/rexx/

More information than you could possibly want!

>3. Finally, what's the best REXX for Windows, and wehre can I find it?

You're asking me about stuff for Winslop?  I mentioned Classic Rexx and
ObjectRexx from IBM in an earlier note.

http://www-4.ibm.com/software/ad/obj-rexx/

There used to be third-party versions including VisProRexx from Hockware
(www.vispro.com) and VX-Rexx from Watcom, both of which have a Rexx IDE
and support for GUI environments.  However, I can't find a current
supplier for those products.  (Actually it looks like Vx-Rexx is owned by
Sybase now <www.sybase.com>)

Regards,
Simon Coulter.

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