In a message dated 10-15-99, Murray Lesser said to David Noon about "Rxprep"

Hi Murray,

ML>    Do you have any comments, helpful or otherwise, about RXPREP?

I have not installed it, so I cannot give any first-hand comments about it.

ML>  languages. The pre-processor is controlled by coding directives within
ML>  the REXX source which have a syntactical resemblance to those of the
ML>  SCRIPT language."

Using SCRIPT mark-ups! Now there is a user-friendly concept.

ML>    (For those in the audience who are not familiar with IBM utilities
ML>other than those furnished with OS/2, "SCRIPT" was a mainframe internal
ML>IBM markup language for formatting documents written with any
ML>lime-by-line text editor (often SPF).  There was a vintage-1986
ML>IBM-distributed shrink-wrapped version, SCRIPT/PC, for PC-DOS.)

In fact, SCRIPT was developed at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, in the
early 1970's. It appeared on DEC PDP-11 and Honeywell/GE machines as RUNOFF,
but was called SCRIPT/370, later SCRIPT/VS, later DCF, on IBM systems.
Anybody who has prepared IPF help and documentation files under OS/2 will
have some idea, as SCRIPT uses similar mark-ups to IPFC.

ML>    A cursory reading of RXPREP.DOC leads me to the belief that the
ML>advantages of a REXX preprocessor (even though it is free!) are not
ML>great enough for me bothering to learn yet another language just to use
ML>it, so I do not intend to install RXPREP.  But I may be missing
ML>something.  Your comments would be appreciated.

It appears to be a sort of macro processor. These are usually of limited
usage in interpreted languages, as the run-time is dynamic anyway. However,
one thing that is missing from Classic REXX is the inclusion of externalized
source text. This allows one to write "canned" code that can have several
entry points, and simply include it wherever it is needed and call those
routines when required. Since the ::REQUIRES directive does this in Object
REXX already, I have no need for an alternative means of so doing.

Regards

Dave

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