CompuServe Messages

AREXX is everything Ethan says. At a more basic level most people use it as (a) a macro language for supporting programs (as opposed to having multiple programs talk to each other) and (b) a super duper batch (CLI script) language. Example of (a): I have an address database in MicroFiche Filer +. I wrote a AREXX macros for it that makes it an autodialer, prints out mailing labels, or prints out my phonebook. Example of (b): Larry Philips has written a helpful script that automatically puts an entire subdirectory of files into an ARChive, doing renames to match the name length limits of ARC. Larry's script also creates a (non-AREXX) batch file to restore the original names when the file is unARCed. I've written a script that recursively searches all subdirectories and adds a drawer icon if one doesn't already exist. AREXX is about as tough to learn as BASIC. It is an interpreted language but the interpreter "lives" in the system so you use it from anything that has an AREXX port or the CLI. — Art