Some languages are better than others at certain things. By default, C is better than anything at low-level systems programming. Fortran can crunch numbers like

Some languages are better than others at certain things. By default, C is better than anything at low-level systems programming. Fortran can crunch numbers like nothing else. COBOL and BASIC are easy for novices, and BASIC is relatively simple to implement on low-end hardware, making it a natural choice for the early micros. Java is better than anything else at... well, no, Java sucks. And XML is even worse. Steve Yegge once noted that somehow, Ant and Jelly were less verbose than Java. And honestly, I'd believe it.