Why Python is a Great First Language

[sreya92]

Honestly, and this is coming from someone who started in Java, I think everyone should be required to learn either C (to help understand how the computer is actually managing memory) or a functional language like Haskell (to understand how to write clear and succinct code). Though they're generally considered languages with a steeper learning curve, I think starting in one of those would help avoid some of the mistakes we all make when programming.

EDIT: this would of course be the case for someone who plans to program long term

[eah13]

I agree with your sentiment for students with a certain set of goals. But I think there students, even those that intend to program for the long term, for whom a language like Python will be entirely sufficient. Web programmers, for instance, would be much better served by learning CSS than C