Hmm.
My main worry in choosing JavaScript as a first language is that the
language is something of a mess, but it is a well understood and
widely used mess. (Were I the instructor, I'd lean heavily on "Java
Script: The Good Parts".)
A beginners language should make it easy to get immediate feedback for
incremental changes and not require too much scaffolding. I think
JavaScript could be presented this way. If a language provides a
REPL, it can also be leveraged for quick feedback. Even a more
traditional compiled language can be used in this way if the compiler
is fast and simple.
I started with Logo (though I was too young at the time to remember
any of it), BASIC, HyperTalk and Pascal. The first two were
interactive interpreters ("REPL"). Basic was unstructured, but didn't
do any permanent harm. HyperTalk gave quick feedback ("instant
gratification") despite not having a classical REPL. (It did have the
"message box", does that count?) Pascal worked fine too because the
compiler was very fast, which kept the edit-compile-run-debug cycle
short.
In the end, I'd have to conclude that more depends on the student and
the instructor than the choice of language. I see no reason why
JavaScript couldn't work well, given a good teacher.
// Ben
On Wed, Dec 21, 2011 at 20:45, Chris Koerner <[email protected]> wrote:
> John, y u no pick Java? ;)
>
> http://ejohn.org/blog/javascript-as-a-first-language/
>
> "At Khan Academy we've been investigating teaching Computer Science to
> students in some new and interesting ways. The most interesting aspect of
> which is that we're likely going to be teaching them JavaScript as their
> first language..."
>
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