## NetRexx Language Quick Start

Copyright (c) IBM Corporation, 1996, 2003. All rights reserved. ©

NetRexx is a new programming language derived from both Rexx and Java(tm); it is a dialect of Rexx that retains the portability and efficiency of Java, while being as easy to learn and to use as Rexx.

NetRexx is an effective alternative to the Java language. With NetRexx, you can create programs and applets for the Java environment more easily than by programming in Java. Using Java classes is especially easy in NetRexx as you rarely have to worry about all the different types of numbers and strings that Java requires.

This document summarises the main features of NetRexx, and is intended to help you start using it quickly. It's assumed that you have some knowledge of programming in a language such as Rexx, C, BASIC, or Java, but a knowledge of 'object-oriented' programming isn't needed.

This is not a complete tutorial, though – think of it more as a 'taster'; it covers the main points of the language and shows some examples you can try or modify.

For more samples (and examples of using Java classes from NetRexx), and for more formal details of the language, please see the other NetRexx documents at http://www2.hursley.ibm.com/netrexx/ – you'll find the NetRexx software to download there, too.

1. NetRexx programs
2. Expressions and variables
3. Control instructions
4. NetRexx arithmetic
5. Doing things with strings
6. Parsing strings
7. Indexed variables
8. Arrays
9. Things that aren't strings
10. Extending classes
11. Tracing
12. Binary types and conversions
13. Exception and error handling
14. Summary and Information Sources

This document is also available in PDF (Acrobat) format for viewing or printing. This can also be downloaded in the NetRexxD package.

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From The NetRexx Language by Mike Cowlishaw, mfc@vnet.ibm.com.
This page is at http://www2.hursley.ibm.com/netrexx/netrexxo.html
Last updated: 14 Jan 2005.