[yeputons]

Why parenthesis? Why is the string quoted? Why I cannot write `print("a") print("b")` on the same line? Why `print`, if it shows on a screen, not a printer? What is `.py`? What is file? Why `write` on a file does something different than `print`?

I agree that Java shows you more syntax which is intimidating. But the answer to all these questions for all languages is: "it's a special syntax, you should write it exactly as it is. We will learn more details later in the course". There is literally no need to dive in. You wouldn't dive to variadic functions, builtins and CPython implementation details when asked about the name `print` or how it can take multiple arguments, would you?

You get some kind of syntax questions no matter what programming language you teach, even Python. Granted, there may be less with Python in the beginning, but in lots of scenarios the difference is negligible.