One of the key things about SICP in Scheme was that the language used so few intrinsic keywords and structures (I think it was something like 7 intrinsic keywor

One of the key things about SICP in Scheme was that the language used so few intrinsic keywords and structures (I think it was something like 7 intrinsic keywords that could be used for just about everything you needed to do) that you could move on from learning about the language really quickly. It kept the focus on the underlying principles (every programming language is a set of primitives, a means of combination and a means of abstraction; recursion; interpreters; etc) that were powerful enough to let you pick up any other language without getting bogged down in the details. An opinionated language like Python seems like the wrong choice to teach fundamental structure (it WAS Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs), but if they aren't approaching it from that angle and are looking more at application development then that's probably ok. You can pick up enough of any language or framework from the manual, and google/stackoverflow/o'reilly will give you fine points/quirks, but that fundamental base that allows you to look at ANY program in ANY language and be able to reduce it to first principles is (IMO) a necessary component of any computer scientist's toolkit and the best insurance against the continuous rise of packaged software that is continuously burning the short grass in most software development. I remember reading somewhere that focusing on application development is like training blacksmiths: you end up with people skilled at specific techniques but extremely vulnerable to "industrial" software that replicates the techniques and eliminates the need for custom development. There are not that many blacksmiths left, and the truth is in 50 years there won't be that many application developers left either.