Teaching Computer Programming

Wolfram Language is especially suitable for novices to learn computer programming, because lots of real-world applications can be written in very short time due to large libraries. Learners can jump directly into calculus, for example, rather than spend huge amount of time writing C programs toying with strings. It's often understated how the power of programs motivates learning. It takes very long time to learn how to make C do calculus, while in Wolfram Language, it's almost off the shelf. Being able to do something real easily is valuable.

Another example would be graphics. It takes advanced C techniques to properly manipulate graphics, but the same thing can be accomplished with only rudimentary understanding of Wolfram Language.

True, C provides low level insights into computer architecture, which is beneficial for learners, while Wolfram Language abstracts away low level implementations to offer clean and clear syntax. But the time required to produce sophisticated programs in C is simply too long and people get frustrated with numerous debugging issues. For complete novice, it's probably better to learn Wolfram Language before C. This is not the popular approach, but we believe it pays.