I would strongly back Haskell for this purpose. The reason for this is principally that Haskell is a single install, (whereas Clojure requires the jvm first and

I would strongly back Haskell for this purpose. The reason for this is principally that Haskell is a single install, (whereas Clojure requires the jvm first and then Clojure). Haskell is a single language, Clojure is java with Clojure running on top. When I started learning to program the greatest joy was code=some result. The greatest misery was installation, configuration and bizzaro error messages. In this regard I think Haskell comes out far far ahead. When I first learned Haskell I remember installing Hugs was simple and the REPL worked immediately. I think that the number one consideration for a first time programming language is the ease with which you can get working software that does something and gives feedback. Clojure has too many leaky abstractions and is not nearly as simple to get up and running. (Aside, I like Clojure) I think that what I am reading as an implicit question of "should a programmer be initially exposed to the greatest type system known to man in Haskell or the one-true programming language in Lisp" is taking the wrong approach. We should ask "how can I expose a programmer to the joy of making things using only a brain and a keyboard". I suspect that many of the best Haskell and Lisp hackers we have got started on Visual Basic because it was so accessible. I would be tempted to say Javascript may be an even better answer. Easy to get started and a browser and a text editor makes for a great IDE. I apologise if my characterisation of your question was wrong. It's not my intention to be offensive or stir up trouble. Those are two great languages to choose from, if you can capture the mind and imagination of a first time programmer with either of them they will be off to a great start.