Programming languages are the programmer’s most basic tool. The textbook Programming Language Pragmatics, 5th edition, by Michael L. Scott and Jonathan Aldrich, is the most comprehensive programming language textbook available today. This is the first of a series of short, accessible talks summarizing key material from the book. Here we introduce the topic, and see that understanding programming languages can help you find the right language for the job, learn new languages easily, and become the best programmer you can be!