True, but you don't need to get them to write C (or similar) in order for them to get to that point later on, once they can write basic stuff. In that regard, D

True, but you don't need to get them to write C (or similar) in order for them to get to that point later on, once they can write basic stuff. In that regard, D is excellent because it does allow you to write code without the GC once you've mastered the basics, so it may be a (very) advanced part of a course to optimize some algorithm by manually managing memory, and seeing how much difference it makes.