I've been reading "Beginning COBOL for Programmers" by Michael Coughlan. It's not a language I would use, but it's an interesting look at programming before the invention of function (which COBOL doesn't have (well, user defined functions, it does have some wacky internal ones)). Also, I've began to code with python and I think it's a nice language, although probably slow when it's not a compiled language. I'm leaning more to the idea that creating a better (whatever it is) language would not be a solution to some basic problems in game development at least, because it's much more design than programming. It's just something that you think about when working with crude languages of today.