Personally, I would disagree about VB. You are right that younger students are interested in getting something to the screen quickly, but graphical tools for UI layout should not be it. I’ve been to a high school class using VB, and a lot of students would focus just on the layout of their GUI elements. Then they wouldn’t know what code to put behind which of their many elements available.

So if the visual-feedback type of approach is called for, look into easily usable graphics libraries, not GUI design tools. Maybe something like Processing.

After C, I started to learn a little bit of python, learned the *very* basics of it, then went to Assembly. After learning about that, everything that I had learned before had made much more sense.

Next language was Pascal. It was somewhat similar to C, but there were some differences…

Then XHTML and CSS. Those were both a very nice break, considering they’re pretty simple (to a degree.) Not exactly software development, but they’re languages…

Now I’m currently working with VB.NET and C#. VB can get veryyyyy messy, but it could be a good starter language for youngsters just because there is that visual sense to it. I would think that in a younger age group, just knowing “Ooo, I get to move a button right here!” would distract their mind from the actual code to be written. Not distracted enough that they wouldn’t learn what the code meant, how it worked, or the procrastination aspect, but distracted enough that it would keep them motivated to want to make that button actually do something.

And just FYI, I’m still in high school. So with some determination and effort, I’m positive kids can learn AT LEAST one language and understand it enough to write good, efficient code.

So my vote? VB.NET or C.

Oh, and I haven’t tried Ruby yet, so maybe my opinion in this article is void? Kinda like saying hamburgers are better than tacos, but have never had a taco in your life (which, btw isn’t true, but that’s beside the point at hand.)

But that’s just my opinion, of course.

Some schools even stick with basic and qbasic.

I heard some schools are doing some python which is nice because it is a quite handy language to create some automotive scripts with.

I am yet to jump aboard this Ruby bandwagon but im leaning closer.

I mean it. Look at Boo. It might make the Chicken Nuggets guy happy.

Seriously though, seeing new comments here has made me consider that Boo would also be an excellent university-level CS language. Boo is a Open Source .NET language based on Python. I have been playing with Boo a lot lately and here’s why I think I would teach it if I were running a class:

1) The Ruby HelloWorld being object oriented trick that I keep harping on about holds true for Boo as well as for Ruby
2) Boo has an interpreted environment (interactive and batch) as well as a compilation system
3) Boo is open-source and free (like Ruby) with SharpDevelop or MonoDevelop as free Open Source IDEs as well.
4) Boo has a flexible compiler system (we want to teach compiler theory eventually right?)
5) Boo is built on .NET so library knowledge won’t be lost when students decide to change language. This is especially great with F# coming on strong (want to teach functional programming too right).
6) Boo will work in Linux and Mac (on Mono) and Windows systems on .NET.

It’s all very Ruby-esque but I really like the flexible compiler (you can create a class that acts as a new keyword in the project you are currently compiling ). Boo FTW!

If you’re tired of people evangelizing Ruby at you all the time but still want to try something different then I can heartily recommend Boo

I don’t think that Assembly should be a choice for exploring computer science concepts, but you are completely right that it shouldn’t be about syntax either. That’s why it’s really exciting to see Universities switching from Java to Scheme.