> Using Java or Python in a professional IDE like IntelliJ IDEA, NetBeans, PyCharm, or Eclipse is not a good first introduction to programming for computer scie

> Using Java or Python in a professional IDE like IntelliJ IDEA, NetBeans, PyCharm, or Eclipse is not a good first introduction to programming for computer science students I agree. But I would say that using Java itself is not a good first introduction to programming for Computer Science students. Python interpreter in a textual terminal seems like a better place to start. Alternatively, JS code in an HTML page. Students should not feel they're steering a large airplane with an infinite number of indicators, knobs and switches; it should be a low-epistemological-noise environment - where, initially, the only new thing to learn is the language and what output you get when trying to (compile and) run a program.