Recent Posts
Blast from the past. I haven't kept up with Rexx since my OS/2 days...-wraith808 (June 13, 2011, 02:22 PM)
No-one likes DRM, but at least it means authors get a few bucks for their work.-johnk (June 13, 2011, 05:59 PM)
NEWS: NetRexx Open Source
I am very happy to be able to announce that today, the 8th of June 2011 (World IPv6 Day) IBM has sent RexxLA the source code of the reference implementation of the NetRexx translator for administration and release under the ICU open source license. I would like to thank IBM, and everyone at IBM and RexxLA who has put in hard work to make this possible. This has secured the future of NetRexx, our favourite computer language, and enables us to do work on it to keep it up to date whenever this seems necessary. A special thanks to Mike Cowlishaw is in order, who not only invented and produced the language, but also was of invaluable assistance during the open source process.
This brings an end to a long period in which some have expressed doubts regarding the perspective of the language and the intentions of the parties involved. Now that we have this behind us, the real work can start. The language board will convene and draw up plans for the future. Because a lot of the work of readying the source code for publication has been done over the years past, there will be no long delay in having it available in a source code repository on the net. The www.netrexx.org site will be on the air shortly.
The IBM NetRexx web site will be changed to reflect this new status of NetRexx, and will cease to function later this year. The binary distribution will be available from www.netrexx.org initially and will reflect NetRexx 3.00, which is an almost unchanged release that contains the required source code modifications of the translator and has some small fragments of code adapted to be able to build on more recent Java versions. It is expected that 3.01 will be available from the code repository and will be the first official RexxLA release.
best regards,
René Vincent Jansen
President, Rexx Language Association.
Rexx for everyone
Scripting with Free Software Rexx implementations
David Mertz ([email protected]), Developer, Gnosis Software, Inc.
David Mertz is owner and chief consultant for Gnosis Software, Inc. whose corporate slogan is "We Know Stuff!" (and we do). His fondness for IBM dates back embarrassingly many decades. You can reach David at [email protected]; you can investigate all aspects of his life at his personal Web page. Suggestions and recommendations on past or future articles are welcome. Check out his book, Text Processing in Python.
Summary: It's easy to get lost in the world of "little languages" -- quite a few have been written to scratch some itch of a company, individual, or project. Rexx is one of these languages, with a long history of use on IBM operating systems, and good current implementations for Linux and other Free Software operating systems. Rexx occupies a useful ecological niche between the relative crudeness of shell scripting and the cumbersome formality of full systems languages. Many Linux programmers and systems administrators would benefit from adding a Rexx implementation to their collection of go-to tools.
So from what you're saying it should pick T: next, yes?-Stoic Joker (June 13, 2011, 11:46 AM)
) makes the next available letter D - which will always get assigned to your backup drive as long as no other USB drive else gets plugged in first. Works the same as my suggestion. 
Not Invented Here (NIH) is a term used to describe persistent social, corporate or institutional culture that avoids using or buying already existing products, research or knowledge because of their external origins. It is normally used in a pejorative sense, and may be considered an antipattern. The reasons for not wanting to use the work of others are varied but can include fear through lack of understanding, an unwillingness to value the work of others, or forming part of a wider "turf war".[1]
They disable right click by default .... WTF !!!.
One of my pet hates with Macs is the mouse/mousepad. I particularly hate that you can't tap the mousepad to click ..-Carol Haynes (June 12, 2011, 05:22 AM)
@40hz:
Rite of passage would describe it better, I think.-Shades (June 12, 2011, 01:26 AM)
turning point
(turning points plural ) A turning point is a time at which an important change takes place which affects the future of a person or thing.
rite of passage
a ritual event that marks an individual's progress from one status to another
It was more a realization that I now had resources of my own and therefor could be expected to grant a favor as well as request one. Which is typical of my family. Real old-school New England. There's not much patience with ritual, so there's nothing like a "coming of age" process or ceremony. "Growing up" or "becoming an adult" (in my family) simply means taking on more responsibilities and being held more strictly accountable for your actions and words. Which makes for a rather austere outlook on life. But I guess that's us... 
I believe I have what I need sitting out in the garage already, but I might go out and buy a kit just for techy stuff. It's really annoying having to scrub down tools before you use them on computers because the last place you used the tool you need was in the messiest environment possible-wreckedcarzz (June 12, 2011, 12:31 AM)
That, and my dad would stop blaming me for losing his screwdrivers. He just lays them down and then asks for them days later, oblivious to where they may have gone.
Actually you are probably stuffed if you want to do much with faulty memory or hard disk as Apple laptops are notoriously difficult to take apart and probably require specialist tools.-Carol Haynes (June 11, 2011, 04:00 PM)
For a Mac Powerbook, you'll need a T6 and T8 Torx screwdriver plus an (I forget which size) mini-Phillips. Keep track of which holes you take each screw out of too. They're not interchangeable. There's something like 6 different screws used in the Powerbook case assembly if my memory serves. Talk about smart industrial engineering practices. Is it any wonder they cost what they do?-40hz (June 11, 2011, 05:20 PM)
*Googles for images and bookmarks them* Good to know-wreckedcarzz (June 11, 2011, 11:13 PM)
[Desperately scrambling for a "bright side"]
If the entire experience is documented throughly, it should make for an excellent cautionary tail.-Stoic Joker (June 11, 2011, 04:25 PM)
. Evil. But still . Actually you are probably stuffed if you want to do much with faulty memory or hard disk as Apple laptops are notoriously difficult to take apart and probably require specialist tools.-Carol Haynes (June 11, 2011, 04:00 PM)
O_o Uh, Okay... With a name like CrunchBang I just gotta try it!-Stoic Joker (June 11, 2011, 03:11 PM)
Hey, for $140, you're set! Do what you can with it. Play with it. Make some money with it then splurge on the newest one~!
-Renegade (June 11, 2011, 03:51 AM)
Most ADSL connections in my area need about 1 hour and twenty minutes to grab a 650mb CD image. Optimum Online cable does it in about 15-20 minutes. And a client T1 in a lightly trafficked office can do it in about 5.-40hz (June 10, 2011, 08:00 AM)
Um... 5? ...minutes? On a T1, which is only 1.5Mb. We've got a pair of T1's for a total of 3.0Mb both ways which works great ... but it ain't gonna pull a full CD in 5min. ...Unless it's a zipped copy of a blank one...-Stoic Joker (June 10, 2011, 11:20 AM)
