[cr0sh]

> to an experienced programmer you can look at code and tell what sequence the lines are going to run in

Unless the code/language is asynchronous - which requires a different mindset. And/or event driven - yet another mindset.

I've seen developers struggle with both; I know when I first learned event-driven programming (via Visual Basic 3 - yep, that long ago) - it was a different thing to think about, but it eventually became second nature. Windows 3.x cooperative multitasking helped to make it clear, too).

But yeah - they have to start somewhere, and sequential processing is the standard entry point, because most people understand cause-and-effect in the real world.

Technically, they also understand asynchronous and event-driven models, too - because both are real-world things as well - but they really don't think of them that way - or at least don't use those terms (if they think about them at all). Figuring out what terms they do use for those type of things might be key in teaching them such concepts...