For Windows and Palm I like to custom write a few useful little apps for my own use. I've used Visual basic and NSbasic for these respectively plus php and a bit of perl for web use.
What would I use (what would anyone recommend?) for Linux/ maemo rapid development, to give me database access plus a quickly put together visual front end? Preferably without a steep new learning curve!

I should be getting famous as the Squeak pimp. VM and images run on the device but in general not tuned for embedded pen-based (mainly) environment. Still, usable if you do your dev'ing on a PC. Alas your final sentence may be the problem. Not so much a steep learning curve (syntax fits on one side of A4) as shift in thinking/approach. If you do check it out then look carefully at the EToy way of doing things (ignore the "toy" bit if you can).

python, perhaps?

I've taken a look at Python which looks much like object oriented vbscript, perl or php to me. So far so good.
It's the visual side that I can't see. If I write myself a program, I don't want to operate it from the command line all them time. I know that Linux is more for techies than Win or mac OS so maybe I'm looking for something that doesn't exist.
I'm surprised that something like NSNBasic for Palm doesn't exist for Linux but that's because Linux is not one OS but dozens of different ones, I suppose.
I may be a bit naive in thinking that I could use the IT as I would a regular computer/ pda (which is what I'd hoped).
I'm not sure that I like the idea of being restricted to interpreted languages on an already slow processor so would you advise I keep my Palm or buy a Win mobile device if I want to program?

If there is a Squeak pimp then there has to be a Python Pimp - PP (tm) - too.

Many of the GUI applications you see people talking about for the IT have Python driven front ends - Canola2 is an example although it uses EFL not PyGTK.

Python / PyGTK / any database (even an object database) is a combo which is well understood on the IT platform. With that combo you ought to find a fair sized community to bounce ideas and problems off of.

You can even put a web framework on the IT if you like.

That's an interesting thought.

I'll follow the others through too, thanks. One of the problems for me is the different terminology with even more jargon than win programming!
But I can use your post as a reference and see where I go from there.

I'm hoping that longer term, my IT programming will not turn out the dead end that Palm has.