use Perl

PAIP (Paradigms of AI Programming) is one of the best programming books in existence, IMHO. In an article named A Retrospective on PAIP, Peter Norvig lists the most important lessons to be learned from his book (with references to the book's relevant pages):

1. Use anonymous functions. [p. 20]
2. Create new functions (closures) at run time. [p. 22]
3. Use the most natural notation available to solve a problem. [p. 42]
4. Use the same data for several programs. [p. 43]
5. Be specific. Use abstractions. Be concise. Use the provided tools. Don't be obscure. Be consistent. [p. 49]
6. Use macros (if really necessary). [p. 66]
7. There are 20 or 30 major data types; familiarize yourself with them. [p. 81]
8. Whenever you develop a complex data structure, develop a corresponding consistency checker. [p. 90]
9. To solve a problem, describe it, specify it in algorithmic terms, implement it, test it, debug and analyze it. Expect this to be an iterative process. [p. 110]
10. AI programming is largely exploratory programming; the aim is often to discover more about the problem area. [p. 119]
11. A general problem solver should be able to solve different problems. [p. 132]
12. We must resist the temptation to belive that all thinking follows the computational model. [p. 147]
13. The main object of this book is to cause the reader to say to him or herself "I could have written that". [p. 152]
14. If we left out the prompt, we could write a complete Lisp interpreter using just four symbols. Consider what we would have to do to write a Lisp (or Pascal, or Java) interpreter in Pascal (or Java). [p. 176]
15. Design patterns can be used informally, or can be abstracted into a formal function, macro, or data type (often involving higher-order functions). [p. 177]
16. Use data-driven programming, where pattern/action pairs are stored in a table. [p. 182]
17. Sometimes "more is less": its easier to produce more output than just the right output. [p. 231]
18. Lisp is not inherently less efficient than other high-level languages - Richard Fateman. [p. 265]
19. First develop a working program. Second, instrument it. Third, replace the slow parts. [p. 265]
20. The expert Lisp programmer eventually develops a good "efficiency model". [p. 268]
21. There are four general techniques for speeding up an algorithm: caching, compiling, delaying computation, and indexing. [p. 269]
22. We can write a compiler as a set of macros. [p. 277]
23. Compilation and memoization can yield 100-fold speed-ups. [p. 307]
24. Low-level efficiency concerns can yield 40-fold speed-ups. [p. 315]
25. For efficiency, use declarations, avoid generic functions, avoid complex argument lists, avoid unnecessary consing, use the right data structure. [p. 316]
26. A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming is not worth knowing - Alan Perlis. [p. 348]
27. Prolog relies on three important ideas: a uniform data base, logic variables, and automatic backtracking. [p. 349]
28. Prolog is similar to Lisp on the main points. [p. 381]
29. Object orientation = Objects + Classes + Inheritance - Peter Wegner [p. 435]
30. Instead of prohibiting global state (as functional programming does), object-oriented programming breaks up the unruly mass of global state and encapsulates it into small, manageable pieces, or objects. [p. 435]
31. Depending on your definition, CLOS is or is not object-oriented. It doesn't support encapsulation. [p. 454]
32. Prolog may not provide exactly the logic you want [p. 465], nor the efficiency you want [p. 472]. Other representation schemes are possible.
33. Rule-based translation is a powerful idea, however sometimes you need more efficiency, and need to give up the simplicity of a rule-based system [p. 509].
34. Translating inputs to a canonical form is often a good strategy [p. 510].
35. An "Expert System" goes beyond a simple logic programming system: it provides reasoning with uncertainty, explanations, and flexible flow of control [p. 531].
36. Certainty factors provide a simple way of dealing with uncertainty, but there is general agreement that probabilities provide a more solid foundation [p. 534].
37. The strategy you use to search for a sequence of good moves can be important [p. 615].
38. You can compare two different strategies for a task by running repeated trials of the two [p. 626].
39. It pays to precycle [p. 633].
40. Memoization can turn an inefficient program into an efficient one [p. 662].
41. It is often easier to deal with preferences among competing interpretations of inputs, rather than trying to strictly rule one interpretation in or out [p 670].
42. Logic programs have a simple way to express grammars [p. 685].
43. Handling quantifiers in natural languiage can be tricky [p. 696].
44. Handling long-distance dependencies in natural language can be tricky [p. 702].
45. Understanding how a Scheme interpreter works can give you a better appreciation of how Lisp works, and thus make you a better programmer [p. 753].
46. The truly amazing, wonderful thing about call/cc is the ability to return to a continuation point more than once. [p. 771].
47. The first Lisp interpreter was a result of a programmer ignoring his boss's advice. [p. 777].
48. Abelson and Sussman (1985) is probably the best introduction to computer science ever written [p. 777].
49. The simplest compiler need not be much more complex than an interpreter [p. 784].
50. An extraordinary feature of ANSI Common Lisp is the facility for handling errors [p. 837].
51. If you can understand how to write and when to use once-only, then you truly understand macros [p. 853].
52. A word to the wise: don't get carried away with macros [p. 855].