gregarican wrote:
> Apologies for a slightly OT question. Due to some portability issues
> I'm having with a Ruby app I've developed I am considering rewriting it
> in Smalltalk. I've never used Smalltalk before, but have read some
> FAQ's and tutorials. I'm wondering if there are any major gotchas that
> anyone here might know of. Here are the additional areas that are above
> and beyond the core Ruby library stuff:
> 
> .. XMLRPC client calls
> .. DBI calls to SQL Server using an OLEDB connection
> .. Win32API calls
> 
> Can I include such functionality easily "out of the box" with Smalltalk
> or would I have to reinvent the wheel? I have posted this question in
> the c.l.s newsgroup as well, but would appreciate a Ruby perspective.
> Out of any language I've used so far Ruby is the one that I prefer
> above all. It's the cleanest, most logical, and most enjoyable to use.
> I sincerely hate having to abandon it for this one particular app, but
> I have little choice it seems. So figuring that Squeak fits my
> portability requirements I am considering giving it a shot. But if the
> gotchas are too much to surmount then I might have to just forget about
> porting my app to a Windows Mobile 5.0 PDA...
> 
> 
> 

Depending on licensing needs, you may want to consider VisualWorks:

http://smalltalk.cincom.com/prodinformation/index.ssp

"VisualWorks offers a complete solution for Windows(95/98/ME/NT/2000), 
PowerMac, Intel Linux, AIX, SGI Irix, Compaq UNIX, HP-UX, and Solaris."

It supports all 3 of your requirements above and is a very robust and 
time-proven development platform.  It's free for evaluation / 
non-commercial purposes.

--
Daryl