I've read here on P.SE more questions in which beginner programmers are advised to pick Python as their first programming language.Don't get me wrong, I like Python. I like it a lot! But its philosophy revolves around We are all consenting adults here. From an experience/knowledge point of view, a beginner programmer is not an adult. Which then kinda means it is easier to shoot yourself in the foot and pick up some bad habits even if you survive the wound.I'm thinking that in a more static language it would be harder to shoot yourself in the foot as it will be more restrictive.Back to my question. Why is Python recommended as an entry level programming language? What are the points that make it good for teaching a programming language. Or... is it personal preference of the adviser?
Why is Python recommended as an entry level programming language?
python;junior programmer;language features;language choice
IMO, the most prominent points that speak for Python as an entry-level language are these:it has a shallow learning curve - going from nothing to Hello world is much faster than in most other languagesit is intuitive - the syntax was designed to follow the principle of least surprise, and it is very consistent overall (unfortunately, the standard libraries don't always follow this consistency)it requires very little boilerplate: a typical Hello world is one line of code, and simple programs can be written without any additional background noise that needs to be explained (such as function declaration keywords, import statements, class constructs, preprocessor directives, etc.)there are excellent, straightforward tools to work with python code, especially the interactive interpreter; you don't need to learn a build system, IDE, special text editor, or anything else to start using python - a command prompt, the interactive editor, and a simple text editor, are all you needit uses dynamic typing, but unlike many other dynamically-typed languages, types are transparent, and type-related pitfalls are rare