[Tutor] Which programming language is better to start with

[Scott Widney]

> For me a programming language is like a writing style.

I would suggest the term "medium". As equations to Mathematicians,
instruments to Musicians, color and shape to Artists, etc., programming
languages are the medium by which we express ourselves. Our ideas are given
form in code. And there are varying degrees of skill and sophistication in
expressing oneself: from clay ashtrays in Kindergarten to Michelangelo.

I was just thinking of list comprehensions. They're everything Strunk and
White could ever have wanted in an iteration.

In terms of language, Python has shown itself to scale very well from baby
talk to adolescent expression to mature speech to
communication-at-a-level-that-I-will-never-understand. Even street talk.
Just like my native tongue. Looking at the other programming languages, I
see one of two shortcomings:

1) you grow out of them -- you leave them behind because they can't follow
you to the next level.

2) prerequisites -- "Before you begin learning this language, there are a
few key concepts you should be familiar with. We'll cover those in chapters
1 through 15...."

Another parallel between Python and verbal(?) languages, is borrowing from
other languages. When they find that there is a more concise or precise or
beautiful way of expressing something in another language, they adopt it as
their own.


"What's not to like?"
Scott