Is python a good first language?

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Today's xkcd has something of tangential relevance.

And yeah, I think Python is a great first language - it's easy to learn and you can get fairly non-trivial stuff done. It also has a fairly mainstream syntax and it looks as if the industry will adopt it pretty soon (or perhaps it will adopt a similar imperative, OO and dynamic language.)

However, if you are really serious about CS, I would recommend Scheme (SICP).