Eiffel is a good OO programming language if you think OO is the best thing. LISP is nice but Prolog is even better. I learned how to program in assembler before even C was invented.
C was invented before I was invented.
I refuse to use VB… I’m pretty sure it makes you stupid… 
I suppose I could have the causal relationship reversed though…
I think there is some truth to the idea that an “easy” language to use attracts less skilled programmers in greater numbers (makes sense doesn’t it?) and that tends to create a perception that the language itself is to blame for the poor content that those people end up creating.
I recognize the power in Perl… but it’s just plain cryptic to decipher so I avoid it as well.
I’ve never used C#, but from what I’ve heard I imagine it isn’t that bad… though I have no intention of ever using it either… I mean I’ve got Java so what would be the point? (At work I program almost exclusively for Windows and Java is still the language of choice for application logic and UI. We do have to use C++ for some stuff and that’s not going to change any time soon.)
C and C++, I don’t even differentiate between them. C++ is to C as Java 5 is to Java 1.4… There is no reason to not simply use C++ these days… assuming the platform supports it… even if you just use it as a “better C”. You don’t have to make an impossible to read mess of nested templates in C++ if you don’t want to.
Lisp? Why bother?
If I had the time (and I never will) I would learn Python and Ruby
From the small bits I’ve used, it’s very similar to Java but with enough subtle changes to make me annoyed I’m not using Java. But then I spend all my time writing Java and wishing I could do C++ style stuff, and vice versa. ;D
[quote]C and C++, I don’t even differentiate between them.
[/quote]
I wish people would. I’m fed up of reading “C++” code with is little more than C code with a few classes used as namespaces. Good C++ code seems to be as rare as hens teeth (maybe because all the good OO people have given up on C++)
C and Java are well in my comfort zone (D as well, but it’s not on the list). I suppose I could count C++, but I’m a “C with classes” type, so I avoid a lot of stuff like the STL, templates, and other C++ nastiness. C#, PHP, Python, and VB I have a passing familiarity with, but I can’t write anything useful with them without some sort of documentation at hand. I just have very little need for anything other than Java and C.
[quote]Lisp? Why bother?
[/quote]
Because the consensus appears to be that functional programming is so different from procedural or object-oriented programming that it is worth learning to do because it will teach you new ways of thinking that will follow through into all the other languages you study. Every language does this to a degree, because they all do slightly different things well and sometimes seeing what one language does well gives you ideas for how you can do something similar in other languages. This is generally why I think it is worth learning other languages. In The Pragmatic Programmer which is probably the best book on programming as a craft that I have read, they recommend learning a new language every year, just to keep your mind in good shape.
From time to time I get the Paul Graham book out of the book case to see if I can understand it yet. Currently I can’t, but I’m getting closer…
The Pragmatic Programmer - is a great book recommendation. I’ve just finished it for the second time (just before returning to blighty). Thought at times I think it’s less than pragmatic - a langauge a year! How would you find time to learn anything properly 
Kev
OK, I don’t like LISP at all, so I have to say: when it comes to fn-programming, there’s loads of languages out there that are way better than LISP. I’m still fluent in several of them, but I expect vrey few people here will ahve heard of them (although I’d hope at least a few would know ML)
I have the same experience. I learned Java first and since then haven’t been able to get my head around anything else, even VB was too hard/different.
So I’m one of those simpletons giving all of you a bad name! I doubt I’ll ever try anything else since Java is big enough to do everything it seems and learning other languages’ API’s is a large fixed cost that wouldn’t be worth it.
Also, just like how a person will count numbers in his/her mother tongue even though they are in a foreign country and are speaking whatever, a programmer probably thinks in the original language he/she learned.
Keith 
PS: Ich Liebe Deautschland but German is bloody hard to learn! And they’ve made up there own letters, check this out - Ö, Ä, ß, Ü, µ!
Yes, but Germans use it when they are writing Greek!