A good programming language is a conceptual universe for thinking about programming.
Some programming languages manage to absorb change, but withstand progress.
FORTRAN is not a flower but a weed - it is hardy, occasionally blooms, and grows in every computer.
In man-machine symbiosis, it is man who must adjust: The machines can't.
A picture is worth 10K words - but only those to describe the picture. Hardly any sets of 10K words can be adequately described with pictures.
You can measure a programmer's perspective by noting his attitude on the continuing vitality of FORTRAN.