Ruby, hands down. - Strong OO language. I believe it was partially based on smalltalk. - The Object model is very well done, every thing is a first-class object. - Meta-programming is easy to do - has good support in IDEs like eclipse and RubyMine - the gem library is huge and comprehensive - might be very close to CPAN and Python's. - concise, simple language with little in the way of "grammar bling" (but check out http://chris-schmitz.com/ruby-question-marks-and-exclamation-points/ ) - some good frameworks/tools/utilities out there like Ruby on Rails, Rake, scons, rdoc, etc - good community support (rubyforge.org) - some oddball, niche things out there too - JRuby to write GUI applications. Runs on the JVM and has access to the JDK classes like Swing, AWT, etc. - Ruby over JRuby on Android http://gonegoogling.com/2010/08/30/get-ready-to-ditch-java-creating-android-applications-with-ruby-using-ruboto/
Downside: the name. "ruby" means something to the outside world, expect google to bring you to jewelry stores, restaurants and Pokemon sites. John
