I haven't seen a comment espousing the differences between languages since my early days on /.
It's refreshing to see such passion, but I feel compelled to offer some advice: languages are just "tools." No one tool is better than another for all situations. JS seems like a reasonable place to start new programmers. Like anything in software, it has its tradeoffs. Some thoughts:
* While the new programmer won't learn about call stacks or different parts of memory (considered essential when I learned to code), the programmer will learn to solve problems using control structures, method calls, recursion, and iteration. These are fundamental skills I see re-used in almost every language. Are there other awesome skills like functional programming I wish they would learn? Sure, but you have to start somewhere, and I support starting at if-else-then logic.
* Writing JavaScript is easy. No command line. No installing software. No compiling. No IDE. Just open your Web Console in Firefox or JavaScript Console in Chrome. Seriously, if you are teaching the masses on the internet, what better way than use the very tool they used to view your website?
* Writing JavaScript is in fashion. From Node.JS to last week's Tower.JS, JQuery, JSON, or the "new" HTML5 rage: JavaScript is popular. What better way to be relevant than teach what the industry is using? I support teaching popular things to introduce people to our industry.
It's refreshing to see such passion, but I feel compelled to offer some advice: languages are just "tools." No one tool is better than another for all situations. JS seems like a reasonable place to start new programmers. Like anything in software, it has its tradeoffs. Some thoughts:
* While the new programmer won't learn about call stacks or different parts of memory (considered essential when I learned to code), the programmer will learn to solve problems using control structures, method calls, recursion, and iteration. These are fundamental skills I see re-used in almost every language. Are there other awesome skills like functional programming I wish they would learn? Sure, but you have to start somewhere, and I support starting at if-else-then logic.
* Writing JavaScript is easy. No command line. No installing software. No compiling. No IDE. Just open your Web Console in Firefox or JavaScript Console in Chrome. Seriously, if you are teaching the masses on the internet, what better way than use the very tool they used to view your website?
* Writing JavaScript is in fashion. From Node.JS to last week's Tower.JS, JQuery, JSON, or the "new" HTML5 rage: JavaScript is popular. What better way to be relevant than teach what the industry is using? I support teaching popular things to introduce people to our industry.
[edited: /. not ./ derp!]