> Or traumatize them forever away from the field of programming. The same can be said about using Python et al as the first programming language. How many peop

> Or traumatize them forever away from the field of programming. The same can be said about using Python et al as the first programming language. How many people quit an introductory course to programming because they didn't like (say) the style of programming in Python, but could get an interest in it if the language being taught was some FP one (or maybe a logic programming language, etc.)? It's kind of hard to tell, because students who get turned away from an introductory course on programming probably aren't going to look up (or even know about) "programming paradigms" and see whether there are alternatives. Granted, how long would these people survive in the job market if they were able to be "traumatized" by some imperative language? There are certainly more imperative language jobs (or, they tend more to imperative style than FP style) in the job market, it seems. But even if they wouldn't like working as a programmer, they can still use it as a hobby if they like.