I wasn't arguing against imperative semantics. I was trying to point out that Python abuses notation and conflates paradigms; and so perhaps may not be the best

I wasn't arguing against imperative semantics. I was trying to point out that Python abuses notation and conflates paradigms; and so perhaps may not be the best teaching language. Both Haskell and OCaml make very good imperative languages, but are much more explicit about what's going on. Assignments are clear to see (using "<-") and one must explicitly declare a mutable reference, rather than the Python default of everything is mutable.