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I teach programming to complete beginners (adults) and I've experienced the exact opposite. For a beginner, the difficulty of learning a new language is really not to be underestimated. The new syntax, small differences in semantics here and there... it all adds up quickly and people get confused and overwhelmed.

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All the more reason to use a purpose built teaching language without the cruft and with minimally necessary syntax, no?

I disagree, I think it's more valuable to learn a language that's "real" straight away, because even teaching languages have a lot of details and intricacies, and this way you only have to learn those once (at the beginning).

I'm not saying the other way can't work though, I've just experienced that this is easier.

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