# NetRexx

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NetRexx Paradigm multiparadigm: object-oriented, procedural, structured Designed by Mike Cowlishaw First appeared 1996; 30 years ago (1996) Stable release 5.01 / 2 May 2025; 13 months ago (2025-05-02) Typing discipline Static, strong, safe, partly dynamic, everything is a string (for the Rexx data type, which handles strings and numbers) OS Cross-platform: Linux, Microsoft Windows, macOS, z/OS, z/VM, Android License ICU License[1] Filename extensions .nrx Website www.netrexx.org Major implementations RexxLA NetRexx[2] Influenced by PL/I, REXX, ooREXX, Java

**NetRexx** is an open source, originally [IBM](/source/IBM)'s, variant of the [REXX](/source/REXX) [programming language](/source/Programming_language) to run on the [Java](/source/Java_Platform) [virtual machine](/source/Java_virtual_machine).[3] It supports a classic REXX syntax, with no reserved keywords, along with considerable additions to support [object-oriented programming](/source/Object-oriented_programming) in a manner compatible with Java's [object model](/source/Object_model), yet can be used as both a compiled and an interpreted language, with an option of using only data types native to the [JVM](/source/JVM) or the NetRexx runtime package. The latter offers the standard Rexx data type that combines string processing with unlimited precision decimal arithmetic.

Integration with the JVM platform is tight, and all existing Java class libraries can be used unchanged and without special setup; at the same time, a Java programmer can opt to just use the Rexx class from the runtime package for improved string handling in Java syntax source programs.[4]

NetRexx is free to download from the Rexx Language Association.[2] IBM announced the transfer of NetRexx 3.00 source code to the Rexx Language Association (RexxLA) on June 8, 2011.[5]

## History

In 1995 Mike Cowlishaw ported [Java](/source/Java_(programming_language)) to OS/2 and soon after started with an experiment to run [REXX](/source/REXX) on the [JVM](/source/JVM). With REXX generally considered the first of the general purpose scripting languages,[6] NetRexx is the first alternative language for the JVM.[7] The 0.50 release, from April 1996, contained the NetRexx runtime classes and a translator written in REXX but tokenized and turned into an OS/2 executable.[8] The 1.00 release came available in January 1997 and contained a translator bootstrapped to NetRexx.

Release 2.00 became available in August 2000 and was a major upgrade, in which interpreted execution was added.[9][10]

Mike Cowlishaw left IBM in March 2010, and the future of IBM NetRexx as open source was unknown for a while. IBM finally announced the transfer of NetRexx source code to the Rexx Language Association (RexxLA) on June 8, 2011, 14 years after the v1.0 release.[5][11]

IBM released the NetRexx source code to RexxLA under the [ICU](/source/International_Components_for_Unicode) license. RexxLA shortly after released this as NetRexx 3.00 and has followed up with regular releases, with 4.01 (2021-03-20) adding [Java Platform Module System](/source/Java_Platform_Module_System) support to support Java versions 9 and higher.[12] As of 2018[\[update\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=NetRexx&action=edit) the [ICU](/source/International_Components_for_Unicode) license has not been approved by [OSI](/source/Open_Source_Initiative); it appears to be a variant of the [Expat License](/source/Expat_License).[13]

## Syntax

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding missing information. (January 2014)

The syntax and object model of NetRexx differ from [Object REXX](/source/Object_REXX), another IBM object-oriented variant of REXX which has been released as [open source software](/source/Open_source_software). The successor [ooREXX](/source/Object_REXX) shares a few syntactical elements (LOOP, DO OVER) not found in classical REXX.

NetRexx is written in NetRexx and uses the decimal arithmetic of REXX specified in ANSI X3.274.

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** [IBM](/source/IBM) (2011). ["ICU License - ICU 1.8.1 and later"](https://web.archive.org/web/20140219065440/https://kenai.com/projects/netrexx/pages/License). Archived from [the original](https://kenai.com/projects/netrexx/pages/License) on 2014-02-19. Retrieved 2014-02-02.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-NetRexx_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-NetRexx_2-1) ["NetRexx"](http://www.netrexx.org). RexxLA. 2011. Retrieved 2014-02-02.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** [M. F. Cowlishaw](/source/Mike_Cowlishaw) (1997). *The NetRexx Language*. [Prentice-Hall](/source/Prentice-Hall). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-13-806332-X](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-13-806332-X).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["Creating Java Applications Using NetRexx"](ftp://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/os2/dev/rexx/netrexxbooks.zip) (ZIP). *[IBM Redbooks](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=IBM_Redbooks&action=edit&redlink=1)* ([FTP](/source/FTP)). September 1997. SG24-2216-00. Retrieved 2014-02-02.[*dead ftp link*] (To view documents see [Help:FTP](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:FTP))

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-jansen_5-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-jansen_5-1) René Jansen (2011-06-08). ["Great News: NetRexx Open Source"](http://ibm-netrexx.215625.n3.nabble.com/Great-News-NetRexx-Open-Source-tp3039870.html). ibm-netrexx mailing list. <1496987A-5293-41EA-B88A-56B1B51B7B55@xs4all.nl>. Retrieved 2014-02-02.[*[permanent dead link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Link_rot)*]

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Michael L. Scott (2005-11-21). *Programming Language Pragmatics* (2nd ed.). [Elsevier](/source/Elsevier). p. 694. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-12-633951-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-12-633951-1).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Per Bothner (1996). ["Kawa History"](https://www.gnu.org/software/kawa/internals/history.html). *[Kawa](/source/Kawa_(Scheme_implementation))*. [GNU](/source/GNU). Retrieved 2014-01-24. started active development June 1996

1. **[^](#cite_ref-oorexx_8-0)** ["NetRexx - Programming language derived from Java and Rexx"](https://ftp.oldskool.org/pub/IBM_PC_BBS/os2_ews/nrexx.txt). *OS/2 EWS*. IBM PC BBS. 1996. Retrieved 2014-01-24.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** [M. F. Cowlishaw](/source/Mike_Cowlishaw) (2009-05-22). ["NetRexx 2"](http://speleotrove.com/misc/NetRexx2.pdf) (PDF). [IBM UK Laboratories](/source/IBM_Research). Retrieved 2014-01-24.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** ["software/awdtools/netrexx"](https://web.archive.org/web/20220109044237/http://public.dhe.ibm.com/software/awdtools/netrexx/). [IBM](/source/IBM). 2005. Archived from [the original](http://public.dhe.ibm.com/software/awdtools/netrexx) on 2022-01-09. Retrieved 2014-02-02.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** Fernando Cassia (2011-06-11). ["Why an open NetRexx means humans can do Java"](http://news.techeye.net/software/why-an-open-netrexx-means-humans-can-do-java). [TechEye](/source/TechEye). Retrieved 2014-02-02.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** ["NetRexx Translator Downloads, Releases and Release Candidates"](http://netrexx.org/downloads.nsp). RexxLA.org. 2013. Retrieved 2014-01-24.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** ["Open Source Licenses"](http://opensource.org/licenses). [OSI](/source/Open_Source_Initiative). 2014. Retrieved 2014-02-02.

## External links

- [http://www.netrexx.org/](http://www.netrexx.org/)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [NetRexx](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetRexx) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetRexx?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.