I am a big fan of stuff that works, and more importantly stuff that helps me work better, faster, more efficiently.
My Current Favorites:
Autohotkey
Autohotkey is an excellent and easy to dive into scripting language for automating Mouse and keyboard functions at its simplest. The ambitious user can easily turn out power tools, apps and even suites. You can spend hours in the forums checking out the little proggies and snippets that others have posted. Chances are you will find something there that will serve you purposes quite nicely, or at least get you 75% the way there. My favorite script required commenting out 2 lines and changing the contents of 3 more to create exactly what I was looking for. Please, remember to give credit where credit is due. All in all, Autohotkey feels much like BASIC.
Python
Python is an amazingly light language with great power. The Python name hints at a light hearted and certainly silly experience. It is true. Take a look at programming structures, code blocking, loops and decision structures in pretty much any other language and you will find none of that in Python. Toss it all out. Your first lesson for both readability and function is to simply learn white space. No need to bother about upwards of 11 different bracketing characters plus indenting, all you need now is a : and a couple of spaces. All in all Python has the obviously wide roots covering OOP, without all the decoration.
