New Wordpress Version 2.3

Apparently Wordpress 2.3 is out. Unfortunately the converter program, Version 5-07, will not convert this version. The main reason being is that some table names have changed. I've not looked any deeper than that for reasons to follow.

I'm unable to address this in the short term as things have conspired against me, preventing further development. One of those things is that I upgraded from Windows XP to Vista and in that process my version of Realbasic 2006r4, which is the program I use to develop the converter, contains a bug relating to MySql. The particular bug prevents program compilation, that is, converting it into an executable file. The RealBasic people tell me that that is fixed in the next version but that will cost me more dollars to upgrade.

Ruby Programming Language

I'm now looking into using another development environment to continue on with this pet project. The two main factors are that the development framework is free (or relatively cheap) or open source AND is available on all three major operating systems.

In my travels I've come across the Ruby Programming Language which is also the driving force behind the Ruby on Rails system (Web Development). These systems are 100% free, open source and cuts across all major operating systems.

I'm in the process of leaning the Ruby Programming language (from this book) , initially at the command line level (that means no GUI - (Graphical User Interface - or in other words, nice windows, forms, buttons etc...)). This process shouldn't take long, it's just a matter of getting use to the Ruby way of doing things.

The next step will be to address the GUI side of things. This is where it gets a little fiddlier and might have to invest in a decent editor. RealBasic and Visual Basic excel in this regard in that windows and window objects (buttons, text boxes, labels etc.) are simply drawn and positioned visually.

Once I'm under way with the GUI side of things and have some of the basics ironed out I'll then transfer the code from RealBasic to Ruby. For all intents and purposes the RealBasic code is now pseudo code.

I'm not sure what the time frame is before I can upload a functional Ruby replacement. I suppose it will take as long as it takes.

Suggestions

I'm open to advice regarding other other programming languages that I should consider. The main consideration being that whatever language is used that it's not limited to one particular operating system.