## System Operation

NeXtMidas is programmable by you, the user. You can create new commands using either Java or the built-in NeXtMidas macro language. Commands written in Java generally execute faster than macros, but require more time to code and debug. Macro commands are defined more quickly, but performance may suffer. A key capability of the NeXtMidas macro facility is support for distributed applications running on different platforms.

The following subsections describe how to operate NeXtMidas in more detail:

- Basic Command Form
- Parameters
- Switches
- Metacharacters
- Function Invocation and In-Line Functions