Disagree x100. Language is important. It does matter. It matters the least if you're doing a small self-contained project. For small programs, you can use C or

Disagree x100. Language is important. It does matter. It matters the least if you're doing a small self-contained project. For small programs, you can use C or you can use Haskell and it doesn't make that much of a difference. And, when possible, you should try to write small, modular programs. I like Clojure better than C in general, but I'd hire a C programmer who got the Unix philosophy over a Scala or Clojure programmer who carried too much Java (big-program methodology) baggage. On large projects or in architectural decisions, it matters a great deal. The codebase will evolve in a different way if you use Clojure than if you use C. There isn't an obvious best choice (although I'd tend to favor Haskell strongly) but it certainly matters for codebase evolution, code quality, quality of developers, and a host of other factors. As for Haskell, static typing is very powerful if you know how to use it. It may be oversold (it's not magic pixie dust that prevents bugs) but it can be used to write very correct, reliable code. That said, to do so is a skill (as with writing performant code, whether in Haskell or C++) like any other, and language alone doesn't guarantee much.