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I chose Python. It is a very flexible language with OO properties like C++ without having to deal with a compiler, which I think would tend to get in the way of teaching programming principles. This, of course, should just be used to demonstrate more rigorous teaching of algorithms and recursion, etc. Then say the other half of the year can be spent on web frameworks. PHP, JavaScript, HTML, CSS can be used. I think all this can be taught in one school year, since not a lot of time will be spent on setting things up and they can jump right in and start learning. Finally, a couple of weeks at the end of the year can be spent on getting into the weeds with an assembly language and get closer to the hardware.
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Despite what many of us may think, COBOL is going to be around long after many of the others on the list have disappeared. There are literally millions of lines of COBOL code in production use, including government, banks and multi-national corporations.
Migrating to other technologies is likely to be cost prohibitive, therefore these aforementioned institutions are going to need people to maintain these systems.
That's a fact, like it or not.
"There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult." - C.A.R. Hoare
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Possibly true, but I see no reason why we should teach it to kids in school because of this.
Certainly no new (sensible) projects will ever use it.
Regards,
Rob Philpott.
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There are more lines of COBOL code in current production use than possibly all other languages combined. I think that's a very persuasive argument.
All those systems require updating with new features as well as fixing bugs.
With so many lines of production code, does the industry not need to address the shortfall in skilled developers who can maintain these systems?
"There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult." - C.A.R. Hoare
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Dominic Burford wrote: There are more lines of COBOL code in current production use than possibly all other languages combined
That's a wild claim. Do you have anything to back it up?
Regards,
Rob Philpott.
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https://scs.senecac.on.ca/~timothy.mckenna/offline/COBOL_not_dead_yet.htm[^]
Quote: Because there are more lines of COBOL in production than all other languages combined; Gartner estimates about 180 billion lines. "By some estimates, the total value of the applications residing on mainframes today exceeds US$1 trillion. Most of that code was written over the past 40 years in COBOL."
"There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult." - C.A.R. Hoare
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Hmm ok. I find it hard to believe though. The only places I know of it still being used is in transaction clearing and there's been a big drive recently to cull that.
Regards,
Rob Philpott.
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Every bank and major financial institution uses it, the government uses it, and many major corporations use it.
As I stated in my opening comment......COBOL will be around long after the other listed languages have disappeared. The cost of replacing these enormous systems is just not financially feasible. It would cost many millions to do so.
"There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult." - C.A.R. Hoare
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classes, function pointers, callbacks, pointers, casts and even "goto". And lots of crappy legacy code to rummage in it.
YEAH!!! 
Press F1 for help or google it.
Greetings from Germany
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Yeah, enough rope to hang yourself with. Notice they didn't list Ada. Everyone should know and use Ada... <g>
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Whatever it is, it should be based on the web development because that's what most developers will end up programming for anyway.
PS. Shame on you for not including PHP.
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PHP itself cannot power up a machine or server.
It can't reach the memory of a machine.
If you want to improve PHP
or invent new fancy PHP syntax
or enhance the power of PHP,
you need to know C.
C is the language behind PHP that power up the machine server and run PHP.
Back to the basic of programming, it should be something close to the computer's memory and hardware.
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If you want to teach them a language - let them pick the favorite.
But if you want to teach them software development, teach them basics of logic and left the programming languages alone for time being...
I'm not questioning your powers of observation; I'm merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is. (V)
תפסיק לספר לה' כמה הצרות שלך גדולות, תספר לצרות שלך כמה ה' גדול!
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Exactly, teach them to write English, far more difficult than any programming language.
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I agree, after all, we do want to them to eventually graduate.
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I am still a big fan of Pascal. It teaches good habits and is sufficiently complete to make useful programs possible. C has most of the same features but is too 'slack' and can lead to bad habits. Later conversion to use another language is simple (imho). On top of that the 'Pascal User Manual and Report' is a superb example of documentation, although possibly a little too 'dry' for initial teaching purposes. I recommended 'Illustrating Pascal' by Donald G. Alcock to a friend to teach himself and he later became a professional programmer. (I should admit that he had a Spectrum and was able to write simple programs in Basic).
Turbo Pascal was economic, effective and efficient until the pricing went crazy. Last time I looked it was still possible to download older versions from a successor to Borland, but the company name kept changing too often for me to keep up!
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I don't think a programming language is required. But, Ms-Dos may be something to start with(though it is just a commands).
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There is a lot of this old stuff in the manufacturing world. You want a job in manufacturing, say you are a Fortran expert.
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This wonderful language should be the basis of all new programmer's education. There's nothing like trying to debug a computed GOTO to captivate the mind!
...it worked for me. of course I learned to program in assembler first so FORTRAN was a major step up. We also used to wear white coats in the computer room so that probably dates it a little!
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
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COMPUTED GO TO's are for sissies.
In COBOL, you could change the place you go to (GO TO HERE, where HERE is the label of the statement you GO TO) at run time using the ALTER statement.
After a couple of different places where the ALTER statement is used to change the flow of program, the weak-minded quit programming as a profession. 
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They should be learning logic and fundamentals to solving problems before they even start writing code. Learning code by itself, doesn't make you a programmer or a great programmer, at that.
With that said though, it would be hard not to show some examples and exercises without getting into the code. So, I answered C#, C++, and Java.
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Well put - those skills are infinitely more valuable. The language you use is just a tool to get a task done.
"Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music."
-- Marcus Brigstocke, British Comedian
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I do not agree with your analogy. Sorry.
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surely. but we can be friends despite that.  have a great day
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If you twist my arm, I guess. 
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