There isn't one. However, if that is true, why are programmers compelled to argue about it? :D I think that there is a shared common intuition that some lang

There isn't one. However, if that is true, why are programmers compelled to argue about it? :D I think that there is a shared common intuition that some languages are better than others. Think of it like the P != NP problem. We may not be able to objectively prove that P != NP, but we all share a strong belief that it must be the case. This argument also takes the form of 'my language can do the same thing in fewer keystrokes'. Personally I think typing speed is near irrelevant, since I've never met anyone who churns out working code as quickly as they can type. And I'm a big fan of the 'my language is more readable than your language' argument, I find it compelling, but I recognise that others do not.