It is obvious that
Gramo loves Swordfish Basic (aka
BABL)
Nigel is into PIC assembler.
Everyone else falls some where in between.
My language of choice is the one I am programming in at the time. If you write code for a living it is rare that you get to choose.
When you first start programming language choice is important. After using many languages for years the distinction blurs and to a degree you stop seeing the language. True for most of the GP languages but less so if you go to something like LISP or SNOBOL.
I once jokingly floated the idea of using forth for a project in what was a primarily C shop... Fun.
I have not done much with it, but at least in the MS world there is now a concept known as a "managed code environment". It compiles to an intermediate code which is then compiled using a runtime aware compiler that can insert garbage collection hooks, exception handling, type safety, array bounds, index checking, etc. etc. It makes programming easier and more reliable. As far as I know it has zip to due with microcontrollers, that will change.
The same language can exist as either managed or unmanaged.
Note that the intermediate language thing is not new. UCSD Pascal was original designed to compile to PCode which was run on a PCode interpreter. In 1979 Western Digital developed a machine called the Pascal MicroEngine the could directly execute UCSD Pascal. I am guessing that these are fairly rare.
By now I would guess I am talking to myself.
yada yada yada
EDIT:
I never really finished this. Thinking no one cared but.
The language debate we often see here is quite similar to that seen on various platforms in the 80s and 90s. A more current issue is if one should use an RTOS and which one. Past that we may start seeing managed code as a possibility some time down the road.