Python Bumps Off Java As Top Learning Language 415
itwbennett writes: Python has surpassed Java as the top language used to introduce U.S. students to programming and computer science, according to a recent survey posted by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). Eight of the top 10 computer science departments now use Python to teach coding, as well as 27 of the top 39 schools, indicating that it is the most popular language for teaching introductory computer science courses, according to Philip Guo, a computer science researcher who compiled the survey for ACM."
Which raises the critical question: (Score:5, Interesting)
"Top Learning Language" ...OR... (Score:5, Interesting)
"Top Learning Language" ...OR... "Top Teaching Language"?
Do we have some great metrics as to how well people taught in Python actually *learn*? You know, for things like memory allocation, pointers, and so on?
Makes sense (Score:4, Interesting)
It makes sense. IMHO python removes a lot of the hardware considerations that other languages have. This allows for a focus on the CS material, rather than the engineering material. An advantage over java is that it also supports functional programming. That means that you can teach introductory CS principles in multiple programming styles without having to switch languages. Top it all off with forced indentation (not my favorite thing), which makes beginner code easier to read for instructors and I can see why they did this. Now, later they'll get into asm and C/C++ and memory alignment and paging and all that stuff, but starting out it's nice.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Pascal (Score:4, Interesting)
Wait!!! What happened to Pascal?!?!? On a more serious note, Pascal was the premier teaching language back in the day, but it really wasn't used much in the real world. It was a stepping stone for learning C, which is where the real power was at and what "real" applications were developed in. I believe there is less disconnect today between the popular learning languages and what is actually utilized in the real world.
Re:The Future's So Bright (Score:5, Interesting)
But good developers make less mistakes in a language where there's less freedom...
Some of us like having the training wheels off our bikes.
At least it wasn't Ruby! (Score:2, Interesting)
As much as I hate whitespace formatted languages I hate Ruby most of all. The language itself isn't the problem, it's the hipster asshats who promote it. They should all die in a fire. I'm working on master's in CS and we still use Java, C, and C++ so it's going to be a while before any of the decent languages are displaced in academia.
Re:Java or Python (Score:5, Interesting)
Why o why do people drop Pascal? It's still one of the best languages to learn how to program: it's typesafe, compilers plenty, and you can easily create custom types (records). With pointers to records you can make lists, trees etc. - all the constructs basic to the trade.
What happened to Scheme? (Score:4, Interesting)
I was introduced to Python first (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Great, an entire generation that won't... (Score:5, Interesting)
You attribute the mistakes of idiots to their language of choice? What does that say about your ability to judge the merits of technical people you work with?
Re:another language shoved down your throat (Score:1, Interesting)
Visual Studio, .NET, and C# are decent tools. Being somewhat limited to Windows is kind of a drag, but otherwise I don't see why your bashing Microsoft.