I remember 1998 pretty well - mostly for Linux distros becoming mature enough to be accessible for “normal”-ish people but it was a pretty exciting year for languages too. There was an absolute ton of hype for Eiffel, every month dr dobbs mentioned it at least once and Ada95 was enjoying a renaissance too - i forget the specifics but something changed in licensing and GNAT was integrated more with the GCC. Haskell was a hive of activity and Python was starting to gain widespread attention but it was no where near to dethroning the favourite language of people who signed their emails “JAPH” :-)

Your comment reminds me how much i miss dr dobbs journal. I learned so much on those pages.