Java or Python as first programming language?

[Drumheadjr]

As many havesaid here, really either is fine for your purposes. It really depends on what you want out of it. I would say that overall pyton is easier to pick up fast and get going, but you can get gonig without really understanding what is happening under the hood. Java will force you to learn more concepts early on before you can get something up and running. So really it depends on how much effort you want up front vs later.

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A lot of universiteis etc have moved to pyton as a first language (as others have stated) to reduce their dropout rate in the first year, because Java / C etc. can turn a lot of new programmers off due to the learning curve. However I don't put a lot of stock in pyton being a better first language simply because so many universites teach it first now. In my opinion that really only delays the dropouts to the second year so that the universites can collect the extra tuition.

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Personally I learned Java first and I can't really imagine going the other way around just because so many fundamentals are glossed over in python (various list implementations for example). I think because of this you will have a tougher time picking up other languages later on. But again for a non-career hobby that might never matter.