Agreed. I also think that the reason a lot of us stuck with programming was because we loved the feeling of making something fun that we could play with. This i

Agreed. I also think that the reason a lot of us stuck with programming was because we loved the feeling of making something fun that we could play with. This is arguably a lot easier to do from the start with JavaScript than with Java or Python because one of the main applications of JavaScript is visual manipulation. Generally the first Java or Python programs you make are used from the command line. I think that when someone's starting out with something like programming, you want to put fun before "educational value" (correct OOP design principles) to give them that itch. I think using something like d3.js or processing.js would be a good place to start: http://mbostock.github.com/d3/tutorial/circle.html http://mbostock.github.com/d3/tutorial/circle.html That's a FUN tutorial that could easily dovetail into a larger project.