NetRexx - an alternative for writing Java classes

Abstract

This paper describes a new human-oriented programming language, called NetRexx, which has been designed as an alternative to the Java language. The reference implementation of NetRexx compiles to the Java Virtual Machine and allows programmers to create programs and applets for the Java environment faster and more easily than by programming in Java. NetRexx classes and Java classes are entirely equivalent - NetRexx can use any Java class (and vice versa). Using existing Java classes is especially easy in NetRexx, as the different types of numbers and strings that Java expects are handled automatically by the language. NetRexx combines the strengths of two very different programming languages, Rexx and Java. The result is a language which is tuned for both scripting and application development, and is therefore genuinely general-purpose.