A few highlights spanning multiple decades, in chronological order: C - The concept of a memory address as a manipulatable thing is a powerful one (and, yes, a

A few highlights spanning multiple decades, in chronological order: C - The concept of a memory address as a manipulatable thing is a powerful one (and, yes, also a dangerous one). Forth - Composable components are a great way to build systems. Perl[+Shell] - Write little programs that muck about with text, and then link them up. High-level abstractions (associative data, regular expressions, etc.) can be practical things, not merely pipe dreams that exist only in textbooks on data structures & algorithms. C++ - Strong support for abstraction makes one rethink a lot of things. Python - Everything can be a little blob with attributes I can mess with. Comprehensions are awesome. (And a PL at about the same level of abstraction as Perl can still feel sane.) Haskell - Type systems can be helpful. Mutable data is bothersome. Tossing around functions is great. Syntax can be simple without being confining (lookin' at you, Forth). Recursion + TCO is a Good Thing (lookin' at you, Python). ---- If I had to pick just one, it would be Haskell.