What is different with Python ?

[Roy Smith]

Andrea Griffini <agriff at tin.it> wrote:
> That strings in python are immutable it's surely
> just a detail, and it's implementation specific,
> but this doesn't means it's not something you can
> ignore for a while.

I disagree.  It is indeed something you can ignore for a while.  The first 
program you teach somebody to write is going to be:

print "Hello, world"

To get that to work, you need to figure out how to run the python 
interpreter, and how to edit a program source file.  You also learn some 
basic python syntax like how to form strings, that the print statement 
gives you a carriage return for free, and you don't need a ";" at the end.

It would be a mistake to mention now that "Hello, world" is an immutable 
object.  That's just not important at this point in the learning process.  
Eventually, you're going to have to introduce the concept of immutability.  
That point may not be much beyond lesson 2 or so, but it doesn't have to be 
lesson 1.