The real world:
>>4852139
C has a steep learning curve
Fortran is a dying language
Java is fucking useless.
Python's easy to learn and is seen by many as the "up and coming" language in the sciences. Matlab's another good one
>>4852203
So Python > Java > C++ > C ?
>>852311
>Python
Pro: Lightning speed coding time, very easy to read and learn, tons and tons of available packages for just about everything you could wanna do (including scientific computing). Free!
Cons: Interpreted, so it's slow running. Not good for simulations or very hefty computation.
>C
Pros: Lots of control over the memory and low level aspects of your machine. Compiled, so it's extremely efficient and executes quickly.
Cons: Hard to write code in. The lack of interpreter makes it hard to implement certain things like genetic programming. Memory management is not automatic. Not object oriented.
>C++
See C. Changes: Object oriented, so it's easier to write full scale software. Slightly less efficient and omfg too many files.
>Java
Pros: Will work on just about every single machine you bring the software to with no additional effort. Good to learn on.
Cons: Runs on a virtual machine but writes like a compiled language. Doesn't code as fast as python, doesn't execute as fast as C.
>Matlab
Pros: Interpreted, but uses C DLLs to optimize certain common mathematical operations. Just about every lab on the planet uses this.
Cons: Not compiled, so some operations are a little slow. Uglier than python. Costs money, and getting libraries costs more money.
I do most of my programming in Python, but I do use matlab and C++ occasionally. I've also used R before, which is a great language if you have to do a lot of statistical processes (which is why bioinformaticians love it so much).