Many computer scientists have fallen into the trap of trying to define languages like George Orwell's Newspeak, in which it is impossible to think bad thoughts. What they end up doing is killing the creativity of programming.
ProgrammingSoftwareLanguage designCreativityProgramming language
Some constraints are needed for safety and maintainability.
If ease of use was the highest goal, we'd all be driving golf carts.
What you'll need most is courage. It is not an easy path that you've set your foot upon.
Hmm, doubtful. The source code generally wasn't there when I needed it.
If you try to solve a hard problem, the question is not whether you will use a powerful enough language, but whether you will (a) use a powerful language, (b) …
A programming language is for thinking of programs, not for expressing programs you've already thought of.
Of course, I reserve the right to make wholly stupid changes to Perl if I think they improve the language. :-)