Clarence:
Although assembly (or machine) language is good for writing things
that have to squeeze the last bit of speed out of a routine, or for
writing code which can't be done in a high-level language, and BASIC
is OK for quick-and-dirty little programs, I think the best choice
for general-purpose programming is a high-level language.
Although I've coded in FORTRAN for over 40 years, my favorite
language today is Pascal which has excellent control structures and
which enforces "strong typing" to reduce the probability of bugs
in the program. I see "C" as having an "anything goes" attitude
(as well as a strange fascination with lower-case letters) and,
therefore, nearly as likely to be buggy as assembly language.
Of course, I still do some assembly language coding for little
utility programs and for subroutines which have to access special
features of the operating system (e.g. timing routines).
Harry.
