Newsgroups: bit.listserv.i-amiga
Date:         Tue, 8 Sep 1992 10:39:14 EDT
From:         Ernest Crvich <GENERAL@VTVM1.BITNET>
Subject:      Re: Beginners Guide To AREXX

On Mon, 7 Sep 1992 22:13:00 EDT <BARNETTJ@SNYSYRV1> said:
>Thanks to Ernest Crvich for helping update and correct the errors I

   No problem!  (although I don't recall many errors, I just wanted to
'enhance' some descriptions... ;)
   I think it's great that you're putting all the time into trying to
help prospective REXX programmers on this list!  Nice work!

>/* This is the beginning of my idiotic means of assigning */
>/* each of the lines where data will  be entered to a blank */
>/* there is a better way...I just don't know how to do it */
>label.1=' ';label.2=' ';label.3=' ';label.4=' ';label.5=' '
>label.6=' ';label.7=' ';label.8=' ';label.9=' ';label.10=' '
    <etc., etc.>

   Yikes!  :)  It's somewhat easier like this :

do i = 1 to 150
   label.i = ' '
end

   That's all there is to it.  :)
   If this doesn't work, send me the code and I'll test it out...I'm
certain this works fine for me ; I've tested something exactly like it
already.
   BTW, I mentioned last time that perhaps AREXX (as opposed to the REXX
I use under CMS) was case sensitive with respect to variable names.  This
is *NOT* the case.  Just like the VM/XA REXX version, AREXX thinks the
variables 'VALUE' and 'value' are the same.  Just thought I'd clean up that
bit from last time...  :)

>     Select
>                When begin=1 then operator=2
       <etc.>
>                When begin=137 then operator=138
>            otherwise
>                     say "Macro Execution Failed!"
>end

   Just another note here : the select clause is very similar to the
following clauses in other languages :
   switch (C), case (Pascal), select (SAS)
   BTW, 'SAS' here does not refer to SAS/C for the Amiga, it refers to
the actual language (Statistical Analysis System).  The same company
produces both, though (SAS Institute, Inc.).

>Again, I realize that there is an AREXX list.  But in all
>senses of the word....It is dead.  Very few people belong
>because so little activity is present.

   Not *very* surprising...although I find it a bit odd that there aren't
more people interested in it.  It's just that the language itself is not
very difficult to learn (relative to normal compiled languages such as C
or Fortran), and there are two very nice pieces of documentation available
(the big AmigaDOS book that comes with A3000's (and perhaps all Amigas now),
and the Abacus book).  This is *usually* the case with interpreted languages
(BASIC, REXX, etc.)...fairly simple for the average programmer to learn and
enjoy.  However, there are indeed some concepts in REXX that can be tricky
and/or hard to understand.  Case in point : ports.  This is the one topic
I've heard/seen more questions on than any other.  Again, the Abacus book
is a good reference for this topic (and others)...plus, it deals with AREXX
rather than 'standard' REXX.

--
Ernest Crvich                    ''Life can suck, even when you're
general@vtvm1.cc.vt.edu                 having a good time.''
crvich@csugrad.cs.vt.edu                           -- Jan Dujardin
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