Instead of deciding between Python or Lisp for a programming intro course...What about an intro course that uses *BOTH*? Good idea?

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Mon, 11 May 2015 06:43 am, Chris Seberino wrote:

> I'm thinking that for the VERY beginning, Scheme is the fastest language
> to get beginners up and running writing code due to the extremely minimal
> simple syntax.

Do you believe that learning syntax is the hardest part for beginners to get
past?

If so, then perhaps you should start by teaching beginners machine code,
since the syntax is very simple: any sequence of hexadecimal digits is
syntactically valid machine code. If you can teach people to use
0123...9ABCDEF then you have just taught them everything they need to know
about the syntax.

*wink*

The point is, syntax can be *too* minimal, as well as too heavyweight.


-- 
Steven