Absolute noob to Linux programming needs language choice help

[stylecomputers at gmail.com]

Hey guys,

I am absolutely new to Linux programming, with no w######s programming
experience except a small amount of C++ console apps.
Reasonably new to Linux, BSD etc, got good sound networking base of
knowledge and dont have any problem working the command line etc.

I want to learn a language that I can use in my networking duties that
is most likely to be of use to me. I have a few choices I can think of
being:

Python
Perl
C

Any other Langs out there that would be better suited?

I want to be able to use the app's I write in OpenBSD and RH versions
of Linux

What would you reccomend (Unbiased opinion please, I'm after the
functionality I'll love it later :) )

Cheers

Ty