Clojure, can't stop using it, so fun to use!

Go. Nothing strikes a balance of ease and performance like go

I would be torn between Python and Rust.

The case for Python is that I'm already very experienced in it (nearly 20 years), there's a good job market out there for it, and the ecosystem is one of the best in existence. It's like a comfortable well made jacket, maybe a tad worn in some areas but very functional. And it's not standing still, with a community that's committed to constant improvement.

Rust is more fun. I like the way it's been put together. It can also be used in more areas. There are some niches (wasm, low level, kernel) where Python just doesn't work. It has been able to benefit from the years of mistakes from Python and other languages on things like how it handles Unicode strings. I don't know it as well as Python, but I barely get a chance to work with it so that could change quickly in time.

Rust, hands down.

Definitely lolcode.. HAI Can Has stdio KTHXBYE :)

I’d pick JavaScript, mostly because of the ecosystem (even though we could argue about this point 😅)

I’d love to give Rust a try however I don’t have much time nor want to dedicate to coding in my spare time!

So many great viewpoints here. Crystal for faster and concurrent Ruby. Crystal has a pretty advanced Web Framwork called Lucky not many know about. Haskell so good, but hard to convince people to use it for projects. Haskell also has a very advanced Web Framework called Integrated Haskell Platform. Scala's very impressive feature set. Zig is in such a super position and Julia is capable in so many ways including Fortran integration.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Chapel or Nim though! My favorite programming speed benchmark is spectral norm and even though Chapel is the fourth fastest language (not benchmark) it's not using the forte of grid parallelism!

Nim is getting to be quite the monster and not beholden to Mega-Corps finance/steering like Python and Go are.

Also I want to add that Zig blows Rust away in many performances!

NOTE: Just as an ethical, solo, non-commercial Engineer, I sponsor Nim on Patreon and Zig on Github

Full Disclosure: It was me that downvoted preferences for Python and Go as the one language. One lang a low level scripting lang? Preposterous! LISP can do/be anything for example. Get out of here with that undercover marketing/influencer speak!

DNA

Go or Rust

C. I've been programming for over 30 years and it's the only language to survive. Imagine if I was asked this question 30 years ago and picked perl or Pascal, I'd be screwed today.

Clojure. Simple language for complex things. It also has java interop and Javascript interop and c# interop. So I will be fine.

I'm surprised no one has picked either macro assembly on their favorite ISA or, perhaps just to screw with people, Forth.

Big Kotlin fan.

Similar reasons to the commenter that talked about using a world class runtime, but the JVM is tested and works.

And now I can use Kotlin to make cross platform applications, while still utilizing the Java knowledge that I unfortunately possess? Perfect!

JavaScript