Open Object Rexx Project Status
June/July - 2005

Web Site

The ooRexx Web Site is operational and the ooRexx domains oorexx.org, oorexx.net, oorexx.com and oorexx.info point there.

Interpreter Status

There have been over 20,000 downloads of the Version 3.0.x release since it was made available in March. This puts the ooRexx Project in the top 2% of all projects on the SourceForge site. Needless to say, the development team is very pleased with this and we expect that even better things will happen in the future.

Rick is deep into the 64-bit cleanup of the code. In fact, the project has morphed into a complete rewite of the ooRexx kernel. Once Rick got started it was hard not to just clean up a lot of problem areas in the kernel. The process is far enough along that Rick can now hand out stand-alone jobs to other developers. David Ashley is working on the Linux/Unix code of the kernel as well as the rexxutil library. If you want to help just drop a line to the oorexx-devel mailing list.

ooRexx is going to have some up-to-date programming interfaces when all this work is complete, plus a boat load of other goodies. Here are some of the things Rick and David have planned.

A new C++ interface for external function libraries will be available. The amount of code to produce a library will be significantly reduced by the use of native C++ arguments to the functions and direct access to ooRexx data types including ooRexx objects.
Classic Rexx external function libraries will still be supported.
Interfaces to all ooRexx objects will be provided via new C/C++ methods. The current external function libraries supplied with ooRexx will be converted to the new interface so that developers will have good examples to follow when creating new function libraries or updating classic libraries.
If your external library uses the new interface then it will no longer be necessary to place quotes around stem names in function calls to your external functions in your ooRexx script.
A new ::LIBRARY directive will be added to aid in the loading of external function packages. This directive will preload a function library so that the ooRexx program does not have to explicitly load it.
A new keyword, EXTERNAL, will be added to the ::ROUTINE directive. This will raise an immediate error if an external routine cannot be loaded/found.
The RxFuncAdd routine will be modified to return an error if the external routine cannot be loaded/found. It will also be modified so that if the routine is already loaded it will not return an error for the duplicate registration.

A lot of under-the-covers stuff is also being touched. The stream library is being rewritten, a significant amount of code was eliminated by switching to C++ exceptions in the kernel, David will be creating a new build mechanism for the code that can be used on both Windows and Linux/Unix, Rick has eliminated a lot of code that was not being used, the external interfaces to ooRexx have all been updated, and much, much more.

Rony is in the process of building the ooRexx test framework for ooRexx. It will be based on concepts found in the JUint framework. This will be a major project that will be enhanced over time.

If you have been looking for a way to contribute to the ooRexx Project and you are not a C/C++ programmer, then the ooRexx test framework is your golden opportunity. We want the test framework to have complete coverage of the ooRexx interpreter and external function packages. So if you have an area of expertise in ooRexx, here is your chance to contribute unit tests to the test framework. Just drop a note to the oorexx-devel mailing list and we can get you started.

Rony is also working to smooth out the rough edges for his ooRexx interface to Open Office. When finished, his package will allow ooRexx to be used as an Open Office macro language. He is not there yet but he has some promising demos that are really great.

Documentation

A new Version 3.0.0 Revision 2 of the documentation is available. This update adds indexes to all documents and cleans up a few more formating problems.

Project Administration

Not much has happened in this area. No changes are expected.

Other

As always you can subscribe to the oorexx-announce mailing list to receive development updates and news like this.