Lisp, C, C++ and Java

What should the perfect programming language be like? That question

Tradeoff betwen knowledge, efficiency and convenience.

Lisp created in 1958 is one of the earliest surviving programming languages. Lisp syntax was modeled following human logic. However, C language, developed a decade later at AT&T Bell Labs, rapidly took over Lisp in popularity. The success of C came from its being the best abstraction of hardware architecture. C codes could be translated to various hardware platforms very efficiently, and was used to develop Unix operating system, another lasting contribution of the same Bell Labs group.

C++, developed a decade later, closely followed the syntax of C, but made several improvements. By that time, C was in widespread use and code maintenance and reuse started to become big problems. Computer hardware itself also improved over the decade and allowed room for more human-like programming language. C++ introduced several constructs like classes, etc. to make codes more reusuable.

Java, designed in mid-90s, closely followed the syntax of C and C++, but removed all C features tied to specific hardware architectures. That way Java programmers did not need to worry about which type of computer their program ran on.

Haskell.