This is a beginner’s introduction to the Rebol language and environment.

I’m currently working my way through it. (And also a book, REBOL: The Official Guide, ISBN 0-07-212279-X; enter that ISBN on the Amazon or Barnes & Noble site if you wish to search for the book.) Then, I’m hoping to try out some shell script type functionality.

For instance, I recently had a twenty-plus page document scanned to PDF. Because of a setting error, I wound up with each page as a separate file (instead of filename.pdf, it was filenamepdf0001 and so on, without an extension). I manually renamed each file one at a time and then merged them into one (thanks, PDFTK). At the time, I realized that one could probably do this with Rebol, Python, Ruby, Rexx, GNU Smalltalk, and other languages, but I didn’t have the time to waste figuring it out. Now that I have time to think about it, I’m hoping to have something ready if ever I make a similar mistake.

RebolTutorial, do you have any ideas?

If you are at all interested in Smalltalk, which is at or near the root of the whole object-oriented programming concept, you should take a look at these videos.

I am also waiting for the Squeak fork Pharo to get into the Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, or Mandriva repositories, so I can try it out. In the Linux world, most software is now installed, updated, and uninstalled through the distribution’s package manager. Hopefully, the Pharo guys will connect with GetDeb or Livna if the distros are unwilling to directly distribute compatible packages.

Personally, I find Squeak’s interface, with all the colors and doodads, terribly confusing. GNU Smalltalk is GUI-less, which will hopefully enable me to learn the basic syntax of the language, which will help whether I am using GST, Squeak, or VisualWorks.

For example, a REBOL-powered posting client for Twitter. I like that… really useful in the real world.

Even Carl Sassenrath himself recommended the site. Check it out.

Recently, I noticed that all of his REBOL-related posts (and Adobe AIR-related posts) are gone and he’s renamed the blog to Thornton on WPF. He announces it this way:

I’ve been writing software for over twenty years and I’ve tried most development system available.

I wish him the best, even though I’ll need to find a new example of how quickly someone can pick up REBOL if he or she is motivated and applies himself / herself to the task. Steve makes his living by his programming, so he needs to find (and use) what works best for him. Besides, Steve may be back after R3 is released.

Sometimes you need to prepare a group of automated installations. This is one example. Please be aware that there are better ways to do this, but this works for what I needed. In this case, all computers are running Windows XP, so the paths that I hardcoded will work.

This was originally based on something I found on PCC Services. The original versions have been replaced with Kixforms gui versions. I typically make an autostart CD instead of working across a network. (This works when you're dealing with a home or small business that does not have dozens of computers. I would not attempt this in a corporate network.) I wrote about an earlier version here.

First, download your software:

• OpenOffice.org – choose a mirror near you and get the "stable" version you desire.
• An extension to disable the first start wizard – Normally, every user gets the registration wizard the first time he or she uses OpenOffice.org. We do not want this.
• KiXtart – in this case, we are mostly using it as a slightly more powerful batchfile language, but it can do more. Get the current release.
• OpenClipart – this adds some public domain clipart. Be sure to get the "Full Release" zip file, because the Windows installer only gives you SVG, which OpenOffice cannot use (neither can Internet Explorer, unless you get the Adobe plugin).
• 7-zip – a better compression utility than the one built into Windows. We will use it to extract the OpenClipart

Put all of these into their own directory (folder).

First installation: 7-zip. I used a batch file (7zipinstall.bat) with one line: .\7z465.exe /S. All this does is run the installer. (Change it to fit your version.) This does not set the default application for compressed files.

Second installation: OpenOffice. You have to run the file you downloaded, so it will drop the installation folder on the desktop. Take that folder and move it into the folder you placed your downloaded files in. Remove the original downloaded OpenOffice file.

Here's "openoffice.kix":

$install = chr(34) + "OpenOffice.org 3.0 (en-US) Installation Files\setup.exe" + chr(34) + " /q /msoreg=1"
SHELL $install
SLEEP 180
$packages = chr(34) + "C:\Program Files\OpenOffice.org 3\program\unopkg" + chr(34) + " add --shared DisableFirstStartWzd_ooo3.oxt"
? "Adding packages..." + @CRLF
SHELL $packages
? "adding shared extensions returned: " + @error + @CRLF
COPY "C:\Program Files\OpenOffice.org 3\program\quickstart.exe" "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\"
$command = chr(34) + "C:\Program Files\7-Zip\7z" + chr(34) + " x -o" + chr(34) + "C:\Program Files\OpenOffice.org 3\Basis\share\gallery" + chr(34) + " .\openclipart-0.18-full.zip" + chr(34)
SHELL $command

You can choose another place to drop the clipart. You just want it available to all users. Perhaps "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop\" would be a better place to drop it.

There are a couple of other pieces. Create a file, "setup.bat"

@ECHO OFF
ECHO Hold on while we prepare...
.\7zipinstall.bat
ECHO Now beginning installation...
kix32 openoffice.kix


Finally, the "autorun.inf" file:

[autorun]
open = setup.bat
icon = OpenOffice.org 3.0 (en-US) Installation Files\setup.exe
label = OpenOffice and Friends
shell\install = &Install
shell\install\command = setup.exe


I am not at home right now to try it out, but you can see how simple it can be. One of the things I could have done is skip the BAT files and use the SHELL command instead.

IMPORTANT: You have to replace all the quotation marks with straight ones. The software “beautifies” them.

Quiescent Now, But Look For More Action Soon

Unfortunately, my work schedule is too many hours when there is work, and no hours or money when there isn’t work. This year, I’ve spent the majority of my time out of the area. Many of the hotels had poor Internet connectivity when they had any at all. In other words, I’ve been too busy to keep up with my tasks this year.

Hopefully, the next year will feature locations with better connectivity and schedules that are more conducive to exploring Rexx, REBOL, Squeak, and more. One thing that I expect to do more of is utilize Rebol to assist in collecting and interpreting government-generated data. For example, if the BLS keeps its employment statistics in a fixed spot, why should anyone wait for talking heads on CNBC to interpret the data for us? Learning when the data is posted and running a program can produce better, more understandable information (important to a business major such as myself).

I am hoping that this next year will be a year of energy and productivity. I hope to get several Rebol, some Rexx, and some Squeak posts up here. Come by soon to see how I’m doing.

]]> http://lampjr.wordpress.com/2008/12/22/quiescent-now-but-look-for-more-action-soon/feed/ 0 lnxwalt http://lampjr.wordpress.com/2008/02/17/rebol-is-simplicity/ http://lampjr.wordpress.com/2008/02/17/rebol-is-simplicity/#comments Sun, 17 Feb 2008 19:30:51 +0000 lnxwalt http://lampjr.wordpress.com/?p=37 ]]> Going through Nick Antonaccio's short tutorial, I entered view layout[ image load read/binary http://rebol.com/view/bay.jpg], based on a couple of his examples. The result is awesome!.  This image appears in a pop-up window.  A complete image view in a single line of code.

One more example: varname request-text/title "Please enter some text" is all you need to request some input from the user, which is placed inside of varname.

Nick Antonaccio of MusicLessonz.com has created a shorter REBOL tutorial.  Both this one and his original "toot" or tutorial have been updated as of 2008-02-10.

Also helpful will be the YouTube video series, as I mentioned before..

Really cool.