ooRexx 5.0.0 has gone GA (general available) at Christmas.
Enclosed please find the announcment FYI, now that a s390x version has become available, such that
this group can take advantage of it immediately on the mainframe.
As ooRexx 5.0.0 [1] is available for all important operating systems (Windows, MacOS, various
Linuxes) it is possible to not only deploy it on s390x, but on your own computer, develop there and
transfer your [oo]Rexx programs to s390x if desired.
---
Also please note that the ooRexx-Java bridge BSF4ooRexx850 [2] - an external function and class
library for ooRexx - contains support for s390x (besides Windows, MacOS, various Linuxes) right out
of the box. Clear the installation zip file's block attribute [1] and then just unzip the
installation package change into BSF4ooRexx850/install/your_op_sys and run the install script. This
way you gain direct access all Java class libraries that are installed on the target computer,
becoming able to address/exploit them with the easy ooRexx syntax without any knowledge of Java
syntax at all.
The combination of both, ooRexx 5.0 and BSF4ooRexx850, is hardly beatable in the functionality that
get brought right to the fingers of Rexx programmers. On all major platforms. On mainframes you will
become able to take advantage of mainframe specific Java classes - like IBM's - which may be a very
attractive and efficient combo for creating ooRexx scripts as utilitites, as applications or as
analysis tools.
At least you should check out this combo applying/exploiting your REXX skills. Personal experiences
and personal insights beat any hear-say! :)
If there are any questions please do not hesitate and ask!
---rony
[1] Note: before installing or unzipping packages downloaded from the Internet on Windows or MacOS
make sure that the "block" attribute gets cleared on the downloaded files. Otherwise all unzipped
and/or installed files get blocked as well, rendering installations useless.
[2] BSF4ooRexx850:
<https://sourceforge.net/projects/bsf4oorexx/files/beta/20221004/>
P.S.: After installing ooRexx 5.0.0 you may want to look into the samples directory and check out
the samples, including the native API C and C++ samples that demonstrate how easy it is to create
external Rexx function packages for ooRexx in C and C++ on your own.
P.P.S.: After installing BSF4ooRexx850 [1] you may want to look up the numerous small examples that
demonstrate how to take advantage of the Java runtime environment, how one can address Java classes
and Java objects as if they were Rexx classes and objects. Point your browser to the index.html file
and you'll get a brief listing of the samples and their purpose.
-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: [rexxla-members] Announcing the Release of ooRexx 5.0.0
Date: Sat, 24 Dec 2022 00:02:43 +0100
From: Rony <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
*Von:* "Rony G. Flatscher" <[email protected]>
*Datum:* 23. Dezember 2022 um 23:59:49 MEZ
*An:* RexxLA Members mailing list <[email protected]>,
[email protected], Open Object Rexx Developer Mailing List
<[email protected]>, BSF4ooRexx Developer Mailing List
<[email protected]>, [email protected]
*Betreff:* *[rexxla-members] Announcing the Release of ooRexx 5.0.0*
The ooRexx (open object Rexx) team is pleased to release ooRexx 5.0.0 and make it generally
available to the world via the web from
<https://sourceforge.net/projects/oorexx/files/oorexx/5.0.0/>.
ooRexx is the object-oriented successor to IBM's famous Rexx language which remains easy to learn,
easy to program in and easy to maintain, thanks to keeping up the "human centric" design
principle. The "Rexx Language Association (RexxLA)" <https://www.rexxla.org/> is the owner of the
source code, originally donated by IBM in 2004 and improved considerably and continuously since then.
Rexx programs can be run unchanged with ooRexx 5.0.0 and can be gradually augmented with the many
beneficial new features ooRexx 5.0.0 brings to the table, like redirectable commands from and into
running Rexx programs, new and helpful classes like the RexxInfo class, new ability to annotate
programs (packages), routines, classes, methods and attributes, ability to easily define multiline
strings (e.g. for SQL statements, boiler plate text, base64 encoded binary data ...) and many more.
Among the notable improvements are numerous bug fixes compared to its predecessor ooRexx 4.2.0,
noticeable speed improvements over ooRexx 4.2.0 and much more useful functionality. Please consult
the file docs/CHANGES.txt for more information.
After downloading ooRexx 5.0.0 and installing take a look into the samples directory which
contains programs that demonstrate some of its capabilities. The Windows version has numerous
examples that demonstrate how to interact with Microsoft Office, Apache Open Office/LibreOffice
and many of the Windows infrastructures taking advantage of their OLE (Object Linking and
Embedding) interfaces.
To get more information and support you can use the ooRexx Sourceforge project's "Tickets" or
"Mailing Lists" infrastructure.
In addition you may consider joining the non-profit "Rexx Language Association (RexxLA)" for free
at <https://www.rexxla.org/members/index.rsp?action=join> where Rexx experts of all kind of Rexx
interpreters on all important operating systems are already members, including the language
creators and implementers.
So download the brand new ooRexx 5.0.0 and start to explore it! Have fun and
enjoy!
The ooRexx team, cyberspace, December 23rd, 2022
P.S.: Please, if you can, make all of your friends, all of your colleagues and the media you are
interested in aware of this great event for ooRexx 5.0.0 (a short e-mail is quickly done)!
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