REXX

REXX (Restructured Extended Executor) was invented by Michael Cowlishaw at IBM.

It is a programming language that was designed to be easy to learn. It was also designed to be a macro or scripting language for any system. Thus, it is a precursor to TCL? and Python.

REXX is a free-form language with only one datatype. The user never has to worry about converting between datatypes. Only one data type, the "stem" is used. It is essentially a hashtable?.

REXX looks a lot like PL/1?.

Newer variants exist: NetRexx? - which compiles to java byte codes. ObjectRexx? - which is an OO variant of REXX.