First Programming Language - Java or Snap? A Short Course Perspective.

A question often asked and rarely answered effectively in the Computer Science Education field is "What is the best First Programming Language"? We find ourselves asking this due in part to the low retention rates in third level introductory programming courses. With the ever-increasing requirements for Computer Science graduates in industry, and the introduction of programming courses in second level schools worldwide, now is the time to answer this question with confidence. If we can set younger students on the right educational path early on, we should see better performance at third level. This paper discusses the implementation of two identical introductory 8-week short courses, one based in Java and one based in Snap. These courses were taught to Transition Year students in Ireland and data was collected on how they performed and around their opinions of the languages. The goal was to determine if there is any significant difference in the difficulty to learn either course. If a difference is present, then there may be elements of the language itself causing difficulty given that the courses were identical. From the results of this phase of the study, we can make some initial recommendations about favorable First Programming Language choices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]