Rebol scripting basics

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Table of Contents

If you're viewing this document online, you can click any of the topics below to link directly to that section.

1. Tutorial tips 2 2. Introducing Rebol 4 3. Rebol -- the language 8 4. Rebol words 10 5. Words and expressions 14 6. Blocks 21 7. Resources 24 8. Feedback 25

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Section 1. Tutorial tips

Should I take this tutorial?

This tutorial will introduce you to a powerful -enabled called Rebol. You should take this tutorial if you'd like to add Rebol to your programming arsenal and have no prior experience with it, or if you've tried to learn Rebol in the past but found it confusing.

This tutorial provides clear demonstrations of Rebol fundamentals, including detailed explanations of the parts of Rebol that differ from more conventional programming languages. It's designed to make learning Rebol really easy.

Once you've mastered Rebol basics, you'll be directed to appropriate online resources (like the Rebol User's Guide) where you can continue your study of this revolutionary language.

Navigation

Navigating through the tutorial is easy:

* Use the Next and Previous buttons to move forward and backward through the tutorial. * When you're finished with a section, select Next section for the next section. Within a section, use the Section menu button to see the contents of that section. You can return to the main menu at any time by clicking the Main menu button. * If you'd like to tell us what you think, or if you have a question for the author about the content of the tutorial, use the Feedback button.

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Getting help

For technical questions about the content of this tutorial, contact the author, Daniel Robbins, at [email protected] .

Residing in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Daniel Robbins is the President/CEO of Gentoo Technologies, Inc. , the creator of Gentoo Linux, an advanced Linux for the PC, and the Portage system, a next-generation ports system for Linux. He has also served as a contributing author for the Macmillan books Caldera OpenLinux Unleashed, SuSE Linux Unleashed and Samba Unleashed. Daniel has been involved with computers in some fashion since the second grade, when he was first exposed to the Logo as well as a potentially dangerous dose of Pac Man. This probably explains why he has since served as a Lead Graphic Artist at SONY Electronic Publishing/Psygnosis. Daniel enjoys spending time with his wife, Mary, and his new baby daughter, Hadassah.

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Section 2. Introducing Rebol

A description of Rebol

How does one describe the Rebol language? Revolutionary. Powerful. Flexible -- and different. In fact, Rebol is probably unlike any other language that you've used before. Designed to tackle real-world programming tasks in a straightforward yet "unconventional" way, Rebol offers a refreshing new programming toolkit for those who are looking for something more in a scripting language.

For us developers, learning Rebol can be both refreshing and intimidating. While promising something completely different, Rebol also uses new programming paradigms that, while somewhat similar to those found in more traditional languages, are "different enough" to breed confusion for the seasoned developer.

Rebol features

A lot of things make Rebol different. It uses a natural English-like syntax, and supports tons of datatypes, including special datat