An Analysis of Criteria for Choosing a First Programming Language in Universities
Yuliia Prokop, Elena G. Trofimenko, Nikolay Severin, Liudmila Bukata · 2019
The choice of the optimal programming language for teaching students of IT specialties the basics of programming at the universities has been the subject of heated debate over the past decades. It is important to focus on modern and significant criteria while choosing a programming language for the introductory course. After analyzing the arguments put forward by teachers in favor of the use of a particular language, as well as the criteria for choosing a language proposed by researchers, a list of the nineteen most frequently called criteria was compiled. Some regional differences in the approaches to the choice of programming lan- guages and the significance of the criteria have been identified. Considering the specifics of the IT sector in Ukraine, based on the study of literature and authors' experience in teaching the basics of programming, a rating of the criteria for choosing the first language was formed. The rating makes it possible to select an optimal programming language, based on the significance of various criteria, tak- ing into account the specific conditions of a particular university.