For example, C++ is great for 3D development and robotics, but not well suited for quick and dirty scripts the way perl is.

There are many languages that leave me relatively puzzled as to what I'd want to use them for. And therefore I'm never exactly sure if the language I'm learning is the best one for me, or the situation. So I was curious if anybody had extensive knowledge of a language and would be able to describe its specialties, or pros and cons.

I'd also like to specifically request lisp and its variants, as it is seldom mentioned (is it going the way of Fortran?)