REBOL Technologies, the creator of
next-generation network-based messaging technologies, today announced the
release of REBOL, a network messaging language.
Designed to revolutionize the exchange and interpretation of information on
the Internet, REBOL Technologies’ first product, REBOL/Core V1.0, is
available for download at www.rebol.com.
REBOL/Core is 100% platform- and operating system-independent, and
currently available on the AmigaOS, Windows 95/98/NT, Solaris 2.6 SPARC,
BSD and various Linux platforms.
While REBOL (pronounced like “rebel”) is touted as being “free,” it doesn’t
seem to be truly free in the way most people understand. The company’s Web
site states that it “intends to
distribute REBOL over the Internet free of charge for private, non-commercial
and educational uses… Commercial and professional upgrades as well as
distribution licenses (bundling) will be available at low cost later in the
year.”
That’s a big change from languages such as Perl, C, and Java, which
have no licensing fees for any usage. It remains to be seen whether REBOL can
transcend that serious limitation.
REBOL was designed to be easier-to-learn,
easier-to-read, and more versatile than current scripting languages (PERL,
Tcl), but still as robust as conventional programming languages (C++,
Java). The result: REBOL cuts application solution lengths from thousands
of lines of code to hundreds.
REBOL is an Internet-native language, directly handling primary Internet
protocols such as e-mail, Web and FTP. No other bundled network or
computer applications are needed, although REBOL’s open design means they
can all be accommodated.
Typical REBOL applications might include Web site
building and maintenance, electronic commerce, file transfer, list
management, newsgroup processing, E-mail filtering and processing, and Web
searches.
REBOL Technologies is
encouraging the development of third-party applications built on
REBOL/Core, and many of these applications will be available directly
through REBOL’s web site at no charge.
REBOL will make commercial and professional upgrades, as well as
distribution licenses, available over the next few months. These will be
accompanied by additional releases of REBOL/Core on the Macintosh, Linux
for SPARC and DEC Alpha, DEC Alpha NT, IRIX 6.2, BeOS x86, and BSDi.
