I'm trying to nail down the one thing that all programming languages have in common, whether it be 80x86 assembly or Lisp. Yes, they can all compute and perform I/O, but they all have a fundamental trait that I can only describe as computerishness. A certain way of viewing the world that transcends low/high functional/procedural and says more about how the brains of computer geeks work than what particular platform or language you're using.