You make a key point that is often forgotten when people are arguing about programming languages. As part of the process of designing a program, you should pick

You make a key point that is often forgotten when people are arguing about programming languages. As part of the process of designing a program, you should pick which language (or programming paradigm) works best to solve that problem. A lot of intellectual time is spent arguing about preferences, and using one language to program a solution that would be much easier in another. I do a lot of statistical work, and sometimes I use python, sometimes I use C or Fortran, sometimes I use R or PLT Scheme if I want to have some fun. I would agree that I am not a true expert in any of those languages, whatever that may mean, but I can solve the wide range of computational problems that I need to address quickly and efficiently in one of those languages. This might just come from that fact that an undergrad class drilled into me a healthy disregard for the idiosyncrasies of syntax, libraries and idioms, and instead instilled in me the idea that semantics is the only serious issue for a student of programming languages.