I had to hit the C++ button. Other languages may be a tad quicker (Assembler, C), easier to use (Java), or more Perl-like (Ruby, Python) but I find C++ and Perl to just work well together in the toolkit.

Perl's great for most things, and I only look away from it when I need raw speed. This pretty much rules out most of the languages listed. I used to reach for C in my youth, but now reach for the C++ and feel slightly happier with the OO and so forth..

When things need waking I reach for the printed perlguts and XS references and try and recall the stuff I taught myself last time I needed waking. It's slowly settling round my brain now though.