EMAX Pty.Ltd.

REXX Concepts and Facilities course.

Duration: 5 Days

Description: This course examines the structure and workings of IBM's Restructured Extended Executor (REXX) programming language. The student will learn how variables are created and used with the various keywords, control statements, built in functions and TSO/E functions and commands associated with the language. It also looks at how programmers may call external functions and facilities from a REXX program. Though practical exercises, the course teaches the students how to code and execute these facilities in an MVS environment. REXX used with ISPF Dialog Management Services and Edit Macros is also discussed briefly.

Upon Completion, a student should be able to:

Identify REXX coding rules and definitions.
Describe how REXX variables work and how they are assigned values.
Identify the operators used within REXX.
Code and use compound variable arrays.
Use the PARSE keyword instruction to create complex template patterns.
Describe and use the External Data Queue.
Identify the full set of REXX keyword instructions and built-in functions.
Use internal and external functions and procedures from within a REXX program.
Read and write data, to and from datasets, using the EXECIO function.
Code and execute a REXX program from within a TSO or batch environment.
Use trace and debug REXX code.
Use the Interactive error trapping facilities.
Identify how REXX is used in conjunction with ISPF Dialog Management Services and Edit Macros.

Audience: Operations, Production or Applications staff with an interest in learning REXX.

Prerequisites: A basic understanding of what a programming language is and familiarity with the IBM ISPF editor and TSO.