This is basically an AmigaGuide document detailing all of the commands that ARexx uses.
For the uninformed, ARexx is a powerful programming language that was supplied with Amigas since Workbench 2. It differs from other languages in that you use ARexx to actually control other programs, so in an image convertor, you could use ARexx as a very flexible batch conversion system. You can, however, only control programs which have what's known as an ARexx Port, but many do nowadays.
Note that as the title indicates, this is a reference manual, and
not a tutorial, so you may be better off buying also a book (such as Amiga Shopper's Arexx: Your Amiga's Built-in Turbocharger).
But this is still very handy to have around, as it details all the commands and instructions that can be used. It also tells you
about things such as the syntax of the language, and about debugging methods (tracing, etc). Error messages are also included of course, as well as the additional library commands.
All of the instructions have a small example with them, although there are no listings of source code longer than a few lines.
There is also a bit on adding ARexx compatibility to your own programs (this concentrates on C and Assembler).
Overall, if you want to learn ARexx for whatever reason, this is a good buy. After, what's the price of the disk compared to a book on the subject. A cheap way to learn a new language!
<H2><B>Mark Harman</B>
<H3><LEFT>
<B>PS</B> If any programmers want to do an ARexx tutorial, I'll be glad to have it. There's also the other side, of course. That is, adding an ARexx port to your own programs. Next issue, I hope to show how to add a port to AMOSPro programs; anybody want to explain about doing it with other languages?
