It is definitely a step in the right direction. A friend of mine recently tried teaching Python to a class of Neurology students and found that the usual "find

It is definitely a step in the right direction. A friend of mine recently tried teaching Python to a class of Neurology students and found that the usual "find all prime numbers less than 100" approach did not work on them! They didn't have the same aptitude for numbers and maths as a CS, Maths or Physics students. The class found the whole exercise of programming complicated and stressful. The same course had earlier been offered to Physics students, who reported to have enjoyed it thoroughly. Given this, I think a text manipulation based tutorial can work better for students who need to learn programming and do not have good aptitude for math. Of course, some amount of math has to be picked up in order to become a competent programmer, but this exposure can come later for the not so math savvy students.