Which Programming Language Makes it Easier for Students to Learn to Program?

In an interesting presentation at ACEC2008, Jason Zagami presents the results of a study, Which Programming Language Makes it Easier for Students to Learn to Program?

Jason tests text only languages, PHP and VB, mixed text/graphics languages Game Maker and Alice and a graphics only language Robolab (Labview) .

The languages were tested in an Australian girls' secondary school. The difficulty reaching levels of competency in programming language structures such as simple sequencing and nested loops was compared.

"programming languages that rely predominantly on visual representations were shown to be more effective in supporting student understanding of introductory programming concepts than programming languages relying predominately on text"

If I understood his presentation, he further indicated that mixed text/graphics languages were better for simple concepts like sequencing but text only or graphics only was better for more difficult concepts like nested loops.

I look forward to reading the wider study when it is published: Zagami, J. (2008). Seeing is understanding: The effect of visualisation in understanding programming concepts. (Doctoral dissertation, Queensland University of Technology, 2008). Dissertation.