For something rather radical, try Prolog. It's a logic programming language. As such, instead of telling the computer how to solve a problem, you tell it what the problem looks like and it figures out how to solve it. You can also install my pure Perl Prolog implementation AI-Prolog to get a simple Prolog shell and programming environment.

Later, you can check out SWI-Prolog for a full-featured implementation. The Amzi! Prolog folks also offer a great (and free) online Prolog tutorial. By the time you're done, you'll have built several Prolog programs and get a good idea of how the language works.

In fact, one nice thing you'll note is the ability to change the syntax on the fly. That combined with built-in grammars allows you to type in natural English (or whatever your preferred native language is) and still get things done.

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