To me the programming language you learn in is the most important. Once you have a good grasp of programming languages become something that can be picked up in less than a week usually. While the language you use could depend on a project, most high level languages can be used for almost any application, though some are definitely better than others. If I were to create an operating system, I would write it in c. But if I were to work on a web browser I would write it in html and javascript. The languages have been specialized for certain tasks, but generally there is a large amount of overlap in the syntax and so learning a specific language today becomes more trivial. In the past languages were like keys and locks. The could open up a whole new world while also hiding how it was done from others. Because only certain people would be able to understand each language it almost acted as its own cipher. In the current day, that is just not true. I have never programmed a line of java before in my life. However because I have used c, c++, and javascript I feel confident that even though I may not have one hundred percent conceptualization of the code, I will be able to understand the basic functionality of it and probably be able to replicate it in a language I know better. In a similar vein I feel I could learn Go very quickly even though I have never used it before. Languages are like tools and a tool box, if all of the tools were different kinds of screwdrivers. Each of the screwdrivers is slightly different, maybe one is a flat head and another is a philip’s head, but they all do similar jobs if in slightly different ways and to slightly different ends. After using Lisp in the last project and Scheme in Programming Paradigms I can say I have never been so frustrated with a parentheses before in my life. While they are undoubtedly strong and revolutionary, they are also very clunky and a far cry from what is able to be achieved with a modern programming language. I stopped using these languages as soon as I could, but I do appreciate the history behind them.
That being said I am not sure any programming language is better than another, again it’s kind of like the screwdrivers I mentioned earlier. Some people want to use an electric screwdriver, let it do all the work for you, that’s like python. Don’t worry about memory don’t worry about anything just write in english basically. But other people want to use traditional screwdrivers. They require less overhead, they are reliable and sometimes they can just get down and do things an electric one just can’t. Both are still effective and useful, but for different purposes. After going through the computer science program there are definitely languages I like better than others, some seem to be screwdrivers without a handle while others are drills, but in the end it’s a personal choice that can’t always be quantized.