Earlier in my career, I advocated Perl (I still like the flexibility and the power of language, I just don't hack it much anymore). I used to teach people the language in formal sessions and finally ended up creating the Perl Tutorial for System Managers.

Although I possess strong opinions about using software for particular purposes, I don't think of myself as a zealot. That said, for technical work, I mostly use the GNU Emacs editor. Regarding Emacs, you may find some of the following things useful: