mwm@pa.dec.com (Mike (My Watch Has Windows) Meyer) (03/19/91)
Well, I bought a copy and read through it. I'm not impressed. Some of the problems are related to it going to print without adequate proofreading. Minor errors in the RNF and function descriptions, and some inconsistency in the use of the RNF. These are all minor, and shouldn't cause problems to anyone using the book. I find them less annoying than the use of RNF in the first place. The major problem is that its really little more than a compilation of the language, and the bulk of the information can be found in Cowlishaw. That its sorted into SAA and non-SAA sections is nice, but not incredibly useful. It does add sections dealing with the MVS-TSO REXX hosts, and it may be useful to have all that information in one place. The information did seem somewhat skimpy, but I've never used Rexx in that environment, and so can't judge it for that purpose. Finally, it takes token bows to the VM, MS-DOS and OS/2 REXX platforms. The Unix and Amiga platforms aren't even mentioned. Considering that Rexx is part of the mainstream Amiga environment, and the number of people moving to Unix workstations from mainframe IBM hardware, this would seem to be a serious oversight. In summary, I suspect the book will be of little use to anyone not working in the MVS-TSO environment. Even in that environment, its not clear how useful the book will be. <mike -- I know the world is flat. Mike Meyer Don't try tell me that it's round. mwm@pa.dec.com I know the world stands still. decwrl!mwm Don't try to make it turn around.