Announcing The REXX Cookbook and THE REXX FILES

March 13, 1995 -- Merrill Callaway's forthcoming book, The REXX Cookbook
has gone to press. His latest REXX book, to be published by WHITESTONE
will be available by April 7, 1995. It is a unique tutorial designed to
teach anyone, even non-programmers, to program in REXX by presenting
detailed explanations of useful REXX programs. Those who have experienced
the frustration of trying to write real world code after finding only
fragmentary examples in reference books will appreciate the programs in
this book.

Charles Daney of Quercus Systems and author of Programming in REXX,
published by McGraw Hill, had this to say to Mr. Callaway after he
reviewed a final proof of the book:

"I was really impressed with the amount of work you put in on this. It's
one of the most detailed computer books I've ever seen, and not just
trivial detail either, but good solid information. And some of your
examples are among the best I've seen anywhere. The stuff on PostScript,
SQL, DB2/2, AmiPro, etc. should be really valuable to many."

Callaway works from the premise that reference books on programming have
too high a degree of abstraction and generalization to be tutorials, since
they attempt to cover every case for every instruction. Learners must
decipher templates and syntax diagrams rather than view explicit code in
the context of a complete, concrete program. His book makes learning REXX
far easier than ever before, because readers can see actual code used and
explained in context. It is a bonus that the book's programs are so useful
in their own right. There was as much software development as there was
writing to produce this book. For instance one example project is an
Inter-Process Control REXX program that combines VX-REXX by Watcom, REXX
and DB2/2 by IBM, and AmiPro by Lotus Development. The program, complete
with its own Graphic User Interface, allows the user to find any database
on the system, look at all its tables and columns, create a custom SQL
statement to view any assortment of the data, and then put the formatted
results into an AmiPro document at the cursor position, all with no typing
involved! This is just one of the programs in the book, which is 100%
tutorial. Another unique program uses REXX and PostScript together to
print envelopes quickly without needing to open a word processor. It even
keeps a database of your personal addresses handy. There are some
essential system utility programs to back up your .INI files, some EPM and
TSPF editor macros, and even a program to teach you how to use the parse
instruction. The level of difficulty is graduated so the book is suitable
for beginners and experts alike. Everyone will find useful REXX code in
The REXX Cookbook. Combined with any standard REXX reference, it rounds
out a complete course in REXX fluency. Mr. Callaway says, "The REXX
Cookbook is the very book I wished I had when I was learning to program in
REXX."

Concurrently with the book, WHITESTONE offers a companion disk with all the
programs in the book and several more, including run time libraries to run
the executables for VX-REXX, even if the user does not have VX-REXX
installed. The disk is called THE REXX FILES. The REXX Cookbook will have
an MSRP of $27.95 and THE REXX FILES will have an MSRP of $14.95.
Individuals who wish to order the book and/or disk *BEFORE April 30, 1995*
will receive an introductory discount of 25% off retail price, and
WHITESTONE will ship FREE anywhere in the USA or Canada (orders from other
countries please include $10 airmail postage).

WHITESTONE
511-A Girard Blvd SE
Albuquerque, NM 87106 USA
(505) 268-0678
email 5979987@mcimail.com

WHITESTONE accepts VISA/MasterCard

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