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MIT uses python.

Huh. Do you know when they switched from scheme? Northeastern I know still uses it, shame MIT stopped.

Carnegie Mellon's intro CS course has been in python for a couple of years, and we're switching to ruby for the coming year. Of course, that's followed by (Our own version of! =/ ) C, and then SML.

Question for those who know more than I: what are the tradeoffs of first learning one language in depth, then branching out versus learning several languages(/styles) early on?

Using python for a completely introductory course for students that had no prior exposure to programming is one thing. However, it must almost _immediately_ be followed by C (and later by Lisp, ML/Haskell) rather than be used as primary language of instruction.

University of Edinburgh uses Haskell. (Although it was C when I studies there).

University of Warsaw lets students choose either Pascal or OCaml for introductory classes.