Python Bumps Off Java As Top Learning Language

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."

Comments

Re:another language shoved down your throat

[szmccauley]

could have been worse, it could have been javascript

Which raises the critical question:

[MAXOMENOS]

2.x or 3.x?

Re:Which raises the critical question:

[tippe]

Who cares? Isn't the critical question always what editor they should program with? Everyone knows that real programmers use vim. Long live vim!

Here: something to distract you while I go duck under a desk

Re:Which raises the critical question:

[ShadowRangerRIT]

I really hope 3.x, if only for the fact that your code tends to work with non-English text by default, because str supports the whole Unicode range, so it works with non-English input by default. Compare to 2.x where you have to make a conscious effort to work with Unicode. Particularly important for third party libraries, where they aren't producing a final application, and often don't think about Unicode at all even for text based APIs. Heck, the Python built-in csv module in 2.7 doesn't work properly with Unicode; you have to load or convert as UTF-8 bytes, parse, then decode to the 2.7 unicode type. It's a mess.

For teaching purposes 3.x is even better, since you have a proper distinction between binary data and text, rather than the mushy 2.x situation where str is sometimes binary data and sometimes handicapped text, while unicode is always text, and sometimes interoperates with str, while at other times it explodes. Teaching languages should be consistent, and 3.x is simply more consistent than 2.x (largely because of cleanup decisions like this).

Re:Which raises the critical question:

[Roger W Moore]

Wow - I never knew you could tell a real programmer by their choice of bathroom cleaner.

Re:another language shoved down your throat

[infogulch]

If you didn't want to learn programming languages, why are you taking computer science courses?

If you're being force-fed anyways, I think python would be much easier to stomach than java for introductory courses. And it would be much easier to grade (if grading consisted of more than "did it output correctly") since introductory students aren't exactly known for their exceptional code organization and formatting skills.

Re:another language shoved down your throat

[ShanghaiBill]

now I guess python will be forced fed to people who don't want it

That seems like a silly objection. It is not practical for a teacher to let each kid choose their own language, nor are the kids knowledgeable enough to choose. I don't see any big organizations pushing Python the way that Sun was hyping Java back in the late 1990s.

At my kids' school, they start teaching programming in 4th grade, using Scratch, and move to Python in 6th grade. It seems to work well.

Re:"Top Learning Language" ...OR...

[pieisgood]

I think they're going for teaching conditionals, loops, classes, functions and structure. You don't need to teach them about memory allocation, pointers and memory alignment in an introductory class. You can save that for an asm and C course. Or better yet, a memory class (which I've not seen).

Re:The Future's So Bright

[hondo77]

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.

Re:Java or Python

[St.Creed]

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.

Good idea

[Animats]

Python isn't a bad first language. It has all the important advanced concepts - objects, dictionaries, closures, and threads. The syntax is reasonable. Some people are bothered by the forced indentation, but for new programmers, it will seem natural.

Most of the problems with Python are performance related. They come from obscure features of the language, such as the ability to do "getattr" and "setattr" on almost anything, including objects running in another thread. So everything has to be a dictionary. (This is sometimes called the Guido von Rossum Memorial Boat Anchor.) PyPy is struggling hard to overcome that, with some success. (The optimization approach is "oh, no, program did Obscure Awful Thing which could invalidate running code" - abandon compiled JIT code, shift to backup interpreter, flush JIT code cache, execute Obscure Awful Thing, wait for control to leave area of Obscure Awful Thing while in backup interpreter, rerun JIT compiler, resume running compiled code.)

Re:another language shoved down your throat

[Anonymous Coward]

C is very beginner friendly in my opinion. It was my first non-BASIC language. Learning C you learn how those bits and bytes work and how shit gets done. The paradigm is old but not obsolete.

But yes, Python is a great choice. My only gripe is the use of indentation instead of curly brackets to mark blocks.