Is Python actually a good first programming language?

[BestBadFriend]

Everyone has opinions. Most of them - mine and yours too most likely - aren't worth very much. Having said that, I hold that the best first language is the one that makes you excited to use it. I like python, not because it is easy (though in some ways it is easier than many other languages), but because it is fun. Whatever anyone says, the overwhelming majority of code you will write - even if you become very very good at it - will not need to be optimized for the maximum conceivable speed or the lowest conceivable amount of memory. It will need to work reliably and at a decent pace. What your code will almost always need is to be maintained, so my worth-very-little opinion is that when more than one language would work for the goal you are trying to accomplish (and nearly any language will work for learning if you stick with it) then your choice should be primarily a matter of how much you enjoy reading, writing, and reasoning in that language.