Retiring Python as a Teaching Language

This makes the false assumption that resources put into Python 3 somehow prevented "native browser support," something that has always been firmly in the hands of browser vendors and was never blocked by insufficient loyalty to Python 2. The world where just giving up on Python 3 would magically bring huge benefits never existed.

If you don't want to use Python 3, keep using Python 2 through its EOL in 2020+ but why interfere with other people happily using and preferring Python 3 for years now? It is not interfering with you.

Again, that's a personal preference, not a statement of fact. There is a cost associated with different type systems, and that cost can vary with the problem you are trying to solve. It's not that I argue against the benefits of having such a system in place, but you should be aware of the fact that this too might not represent the end-all-be-all for all programmers.

One of the basic mistakes made here seems to be the notion "if programmers only _knew_ about the one true way of doing it, they'd all use the same language and tools, namely: mine".

I have a concern with Python as a teaching language in contexts where people are not necessarily into STEM and are inexperienced or marginally experienced as programmers.

There's no neat and tidy way to deal with Python 2 versus 3. You can say use 2. You can say use 3. You can kick the issue down the road by requiring programming via web browser. But in the end anyone who catches the programming bug winds up facing a decision that even seasoned professionals struggle with.

Python as a teaching language is great for replacing MatLab. After that it entails tradeoffs as fundamental as character encoding. Not that I'm saying JavaScript is the answer.

If I were trying to get someone juiced about programming and solving the problems that MatLab does wasn't a feature the audience cared about, I'd pick Processing. It does interesting things with sound and images and exports to HTML and JavaScript to run in the browser. All that and it's small, well documented and Googles up a low noise search results page. Yet it runs as deep as you want to dive into the JVM and its languages.

This is always a hotly debated topic. When I learned to program, I started because I wanted to understand how computers work. Javascript in a Web browser so many layers above the basics of a computer; I just don't think it is a good choice for a first language. Obviously, it depends on your goals. If you are changing careers and you just heard that you can make all this money web consulting and you couldn't care less about computer science then maybe go for Javascript, I don't know much about people who got into programming via that route.

I think Python is probably a useful first programming language for someone interested in doing mathematics or algorithms but I still think, and this is totally against the grain, that C is a good language for beginners to programming. However, it may not be the best language to teach undergrads and expect as many as possible to stick with CS, maybe that is not a terrible thing? Though, that is elitist, I think C provide enough of an abstraction on top of the machine while still allowing you to get some idea of how computers and memory work, from a CS rather than an EE perspective.

The other benefit is that once someone wants to know how to create a game or how to make a GUI program ... the resources are readily available and in fact most of the libraries will be written in either C or C++. I think C over C++ because OOP concepts and syntax of C++ can be needlessly overwhelming for a newcomer to programming.

I feel like it also gives the beginner the feeling of actually creating a program. Those interested in learning to program will always be familiar with normal executables such as EXEs on Windows or binaries that can be executed on Linux. Using C means you can create something just like those programs they are familiar with; it gives the learner a sense of really accomplishing something, in my opinion. Creating something you have to run in conjunction with another program and does not seem like a "typical executable" can leave the user feeling like "OK, how do I create a real program, though?" This is not to knock interpreted languages, at all; it's just something I think is important for some learners.

You realize all these "new" concepts you think exist in these "modern" programming languages have been around since the early 1960s, right? MVC Web Apps ugh ... Maybe for some ... I just think there is a class of learner that wants to actually learn about computers and not just show web sites to their friends.