REXX as a macro language

[stevehoward]

Would you please consider REXX as a potential macro language for Textpad. There are open editions of REXX that might be suitable for
this purpose. IBM OS/390 ISPF, IBM VM XEDIT, and Mansfield Sofware Kedit are exaples of Editors that can use REXX. There are a lots of
mainframe types familar with REXX and the PC types would have no touble with REXX. There are good REXX implementations in the IBM
mainframe world, Windows, DOS, OS/2, Linux and other I386 platforms.
REXX is therefore fairly portable and is easy to learn.

Thanks,

Steve Howard

[Alex2]

As an ex-Amiga user I fully support your request!! It's an easy to learn (and easy to read!!!) language. Because nearly every serious Amiga-program and the OS supported this, this feature alone kept me from buying a Windows-PC until mid-2001!

Should we vote on this (I hope there are a lot of ex-Amiga- and OS/2 guys around on this forum!)?

Grx,

Alex

[BenjiSmith]

I'm not wild about it.

Rexx? You mean I'd have to learn yet another scripting language?

I already know JavaScript, Perl, php, VBA, Java, and a handful of C++, and now I need to another language, just to write TextPad macros?

Well, I'm okay with that, as long as I can re-purpose my new knowledge into something else. If I were to learn python or ruby or tcl, I can use all of those skills to develop more applications for my clients. There are lots of opportunities to use these scripting languages in the real world.

But Rexx???

I've got to tell you, I'm never going to use Rexx for anything, unless of course TextPad insists on using Rexx as a scripting language.

[Alex2]

Rexx? You mean I'd have to learn yet another scripting language?

I already know JavaScript, Perl, php, VBA, Java, and a handful of C++, and now I need to another language, just to write TextPad macros?
...snip...
But Rexx???

If I look at the languages you already know: Yes, you need to. REXX (and Python, which you mentioned) are simple to learn languages that are i.mo. far more suited as script languages, because they are readable to the newcomer AND useable and powerful to the experienced programmer. Perl is not. C++ is not. Java is not (try to explain OO to a home-user that wants to change something small in your script), VB is not because it is not portable and not free (or have I missed something). Comparing Perl to REXX and Python is like comparing C++ to, say, Oberon.
As Python is a widely used language by now, this would give it some advantage over REXX.

For simple examples and tutorials see:
http://users.comlab.ox.ac.uk/ian.collier/Rexx/info.html
http://www.python.org/

[ramonsky]

Now, I can't let that go by without comment.

As an ex-Amiga programmer *MYSELF*, I am more than qualified to comment on Rexx, or at least, the Amiga variant, ARexx, and I have to say I thoroughly disagree with you, Alex2. You claim that C++ is not readable? Huh? I can only suppose that "readable" is what you're used to. (I agree with you about Perl though). You forgot to mention PHP - probably the most readable of all of them, and very C-like too.

ARexx was okay, but certainly no better than PHP or Python. My main memory of programming in Amiga ARexx was in using it as an multiprocessing API in assembler, copying message parameters back and forth in Motorola 68000 assembler code. Very powerful, but too fiddly, and over-the-top for a text editor.

Other, and better (IMO) suggestions have already been posted regarding scripting language, including:

(1) Record the keystrokes (as now) but allow the user to edit them afterwards (so you'd have an editable text file with stuff like "{End}{Enter}{Shift+Right}{Shift+Right}{Shift+Right}{Ctrl-X}" and so on. This would be useful as a temporary measure).

(2) Bolt in an existing script language which is widely popular such as PHP or Python.

(3) Use some sort of scripting host so that users can use their own choice of scripting language. (I don't know too much about this option - someone suggested it and, who knows?, it may be plausable).

Jill