From what I hear, it seems like a good introduction to the principles of programming, if nothing else. I didn't learn to program until my freshman year of coll

From what I hear, it seems like a good introduction to the principles of programming, if nothing else. I didn't learn to program until my freshman year of college (and had no prior CS experience), but found that some similar-sounding software I had used for a long time had prepared me for actual programming in a surprising way ("Game Maker", for what it's worth). If the App Inventor ends up being anything like that, and actually useful for creating apps, it will certainly be a good reinforcement for basic programming concepts. On the other hand, by its very design it will be limited in what it can accomplish. How much is a matter to be seen!