How to Pick a Language

I'm sure many have tried, but language comparisons actually devolve into uselessness very quickly, because the things we can quantitatively measure and compare about languages are mostly not the things that people care about in practice. For example, I can tell you what classes of errors are possible in Javascript programs versus what errors are possible in Python programs versus what errors are possible in Haskell programs, but it doesn't really seem to affect peoples' language choices. Language comparisons tend to devolve very quickly into arguments about personal taste and little else. I wrote some thoughts on this subject a while ago: http://plsadventures.blogspot.com/2009/08/simple-patterns-fo...