[extra88]

> you're intentionally limiting what you're teaching them

Yes, that’s the point. It’s an introductory class, choices have to be made about what to teach when.

[bachmeier]

Well, of course, but the point is that avoiding syntax is not a great criterion for defining the fundamentals of programming. A couple orders of magnitude more important is to decide what concepts are useful for beginning programmers to know.

[afiori]

I took it as "removing syntax left more space for other stuff"