If computer languages were car :
- c is a racing car that goes incredibly fast but breaks down every fifty miles.
- c++ is a souped-up racing car with dozens of extra features that only breaks down every 250 miles, but when it does, nobody can figure out what went wrong.
- java is a family station wagon. it's easy to drive, it's not too fast, and you can't hurt yourself.
- c# is a competing model of family station wagons. once you use this, you're never allowed to use the competitors' products again.
- lisp looks like a car, but with enough tweaking you can turn it into a pretty effective airplane or submarine.
- perl is supposed to be a pretty cool car, but the driver's manual is incomprehensible. also, even if you can figure out how to drive a perl car, you won't be able to drive anyone else's.
- python is a great beginner's car; you can drive it without a license. unless you want to drive really fast or on really treacherous terrain, you may never need another car.
- ruby is a car that was formed when the perl, python and smalltalk cars were involved in a three-way collision. a japanese mechanic found the pieces and put together a car which many people think was better than the sum of the parts.
- fortran is a pretty primitive car; it'll go very quickly as long as you are only going along roads that are perfectly straight. it is believed that learning to drive a fortran car makes it impossible to learn to drive any other model.
- cobol is reputed to be a car, but no self-respecting driver will ever admit having driven one.
- assembly language is a bare engine; you have to build the car yourself and manually supply it with gas while it's running, but if you're careful it can go like a bat out of hell.