Should we start them on C++ or Java instead? Don't laugh, I've seen it done! As wrong as BASIC is I think it makes a pretty good starter language. Can you suggest any reasonable alternatives?
A reasonable alternative for BASIC? No, I don't think there
is. Nor do I think BASIC is reasonable. But I do think there
are good candidates for good starter languages: Python, Modula,
Haskell, Java, and probably Eifel as well. Not BASIC, not C,
not C++ and certainly not Perl.
Of all these Python sounds the most attractive to me. I think starting off with a scripting language simplifies things and it's enforced structure is a good habit to get into. The fact that it is open-source is a big plus for educational institutions. Someone who picks things up quickly can shift over to Jython and start playing with QUI programming.
I know that I'd hate to start a beginning class trying to explain to people the point behind public static void main(String[] args). I'm tempted to throw out Ruby, but it's something that I've only casually glanced at.