Introducing python into the first year curriculum at wits
Alexander Holt, Sarah Rauchas, Ian Douglas Sanders · ACM SIGCSE Bulletin · 2006
Since 1999 the School of Computer Science (CS) at the University of Witwatersrand (Wits) has been using Scheme as the first programming language our students encounter [2]. We chose Scheme because it is a language unfamiliar to most of the first year students, so that the students with imperative programming experience from school would not have an advantage over those who did not. Also, it has a simple syntax which we felt that students without prior programming experience could easily learn. Finally, the functional paradigm allows a more direct mapping of mathematical concepts to programs, which fits with the mathematical emphasis in our curriculum.