Instead of learning only Scheme or only Python for a one semester intro course, what about learning BOTH? Maybe that could somehow get the benefits of both?
I'm thinking that for the VERY beginning, Scheme is the fastest language to get beginners up and running writing code due to the extremely minimal simple syntax. I'm thinking half way into the semester, instead of moving into intermediate Scheme, perhaps that is a good time to switch to Python? Would a little strong intro to 2 nice languages in one semester be same/good/worse/better than just 1? cs -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list