Your Web Toolkit, Opinions on Languages, Applications, and Learning Options

[JonHMChan]

This isn't exactly meant to be a novice-friendly discussion, but I wanted to know everyone's opinions on the pros and cons of some of the web languages and applications that are being used on the internet at an intermediate or advanced level. I just decided to get rather aggressive about learning other web lang/apps and I thought it would be a good idea to ask others' opinions before I (and others that might take a look at this thread) take the time to go learn them. Of course, I also think this would make for a very interesting discussion.

- What languages/applications do you use for web design/programming (your toolkit), for how long, and why? Are there aspects about your toolkit that you wish it could do? What is your dream toolkit?
- What is your opinion of other languages/applications, and do you think they are worth learning or using? Why or why not?
- What do you think is the best way to go about learning other lang/apps? How did you learn the lang/apps in your toolkit?

I'll withhold my own reply for now so that there aren't any skewed answers. Any answers would be great, and I hope that this might help out other people who stumble along.

Some topics
HTML, PHP, Javascript, XML, CSS, Python, Ruby, MySQL, Flash, Actionscript 2.0/3.0, L/AMP, AJAX, phpMyAdmin, Photoshop, Illustrator, OOP, ASP, Oracle, VBScript, Django, Rails, Sinatra, TextMate, Dreamweaver