On the use of the word rational, I agree, but think you could go even farther. Even terms like "optimal" or "best" elide the fact that you have to optimize some particular goal.

In your example, if you don't know enough about programming languages to know exactly what you want to optimize, a more specific and answerable question might be, "What are the advantages and disadvantages of different programming languages? which ones are similar to which others? Which ones would help me learn others, and which ones would give me skills I can transfer into other parts of life?"