Very few languages are truly groundbreaking. Most are simply refinements of existing ideas (doesn't necessarily mean that they're not a step forward). If you'

Very few languages are truly groundbreaking. Most are simply refinements of existing ideas (doesn't necessarily mean that they're not a step forward). If you're interested in something earth-shatteringly different, you're going to need to look into programming language research to find it (One great reference that could probably answer this question better is http://lambda-the-ultimate.org/ http://lambda-the-ultimate.org/). For examples of a recent-ish language that was developed by a professor at UIUC, see http://maude.cs.uiuc.edu/ http://maude.cs.uiuc.edu/, which is based on rewriting logic and is currently still being developed/refined. But even that has strong ties to a previous language OBJ by the same creator. If you're interested in learning something really different but a bit easier/more fun, I would strongly recommend Prolog. Schapiro has a great book (http://www.amazon.com/Art-Prolog-Second-Programming-Techniques/dp/0262193388 http://www.amazon.com/Art-Prolog-Second-Programming-Techniqu...).