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If you're just teaching the basics, C can be pretty confusing. Debugging in C can also be extremely frustrating.
Java would be my second choice after Python. When I was in grad school I TA'd an intro to programming course where we started with Python to teach the basics, and then moved on to Java when the assignments became more complicated. I thought it worked well.
the front ends change all the time but not the back end. A lot can be said for VBA in office too. You can do a lot with vba/Excel and a data connection to a sql box.
I am a software developer who works primarily in PHP. PHP is not a language in decline - in fact, it has gotten some major revisions lately that help it function more like a true Object Oriented language like Java. The LAMP platform (Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP) is on the rise, which means PHP will continue to be popular for a long time.
That said, PHP is an absolutely terrible language to learn first. It is not naturally structured at all, so someone with no solid understanding of Computer Science fundamentals will likely adopt bad and sloppy coding practices, which could effect the rest of their coding career.
This is why the absolute worst software developers are those who don't know any languages other than PHP, or maybe they started with PHP. PHP is one of my least favorite languages, but with some of the recent revisions to it, you can force it to behave similar to more elegant languages like Java. But even then, few other PHP developers are using the language properly, so you'll have to work with their terrible code if you're a PHP developer, which is an exercise in severe frustration and stress.
PHP developers also tend to make less than developers in other languages (maybe because companies using the LAMP platform typically don't have big budgets).
Java and C++ are good for starting. Many languages like Python are too high level, meaning the code does so much of the work that the student doesn't get a good understanding of what's going on under the hood.
C and assembly are necessary to really learn well at some point too, but as with PHP, learning them first will probably teach the student bad coding practices. Object Oriented programming is completely essential to writing and managing large applications, so C++ and Java are ideal. This is why most colleges/universities use C++ or Java in their core Computer Science classes.
I'll take a different tack and suggest SmallTalk. Not a terribly useful language for business but a good language to learn OO programming. The syntax is very simple and everything is an object so you are forced to think in terms of objects. After one semester (or quarter?) of that, learning a language such as C++ or Java (I could make cases for either) would be a good direction.
What did I need that I couldn't get from a dozen places already?
Ever wish a piece of software did something that it didn't?
For one thing as far as PHP goes if you own web sites you are either stuck in a very narrow box with off the shelf stuff, pay through the nose to get even simple things done or learn how to do it yourself.
Excellent points.
What students need to learn are:
1. how to make the computer do something
2. how to make it do what they want
3. basic concepts - loops, recursion, variable names vs variable values, etc.
If anyone wanted to teach me programming, the way for him to start would be to answer the question: Why?
I had a TRS-80, I had an Atari 800, I took a course or two, but I never understood why I would have to screw around coding. What did I need that I couldn't get from a dozen places already?
Why do people learn to code? What does it get them?
They want something they can't get from anyplace. Or they want to make it better. Or they're curious and want to know how all this stuff works. Or it doesn't work, and they'd like to have a clue why. Or ... lotsa' reasons.
I learned Visual Basic in High School. 7 years ago.
Today I would recommend Java.
I recommend looking into C# also it is pretty similar to Java in a few ways. It has all the support of microsoft and has by far the best IDE on the market.(in my opinion)
I would say that it doesn't matter that much. As Hazergore1198 suggests, I would stay away from languages that are too high-level. You wouldn't want to learn to fly a plane by using autopilot.
I started w/ PL/1 back in the dark ages and went on to learn and use Fortran, Cobol, assembler, Pascal, Basic, C, Forth, Ada and others. Looking back, I don't think it would have made much difference what I started with. The basic concepts are the same, and it's much easier to learn a new programming language than to learn a new speaking/writing language.
Whatever programming language the instructor is most comfortable with would be the best choice.
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Agree
