Using Scripting Languages to Teach Programming
  Nowadays, scripting programming languages like Python, Perl and Ruby are widely used in system programming, scientific computing, etc. Although solving a particular problem in these languages requires less time, less programming effort, and less concepts to be taught to achieve the desired goal, still they are not used as teaching tools. Therefore, the use of scripting languages as a teaching vehicle for programming course is very promising. On the other hand, GUI programming, when performed with such languages, is easy and rewarding, since one sees the result of her work immediately. Thus, we are sure that scripting languages combined with GUI toolkits will be the next big thing in computer education. 
Apostolos Syropoulos and Athanasios Stavrianos
cs.CY