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Normally we want students writing (hopefully useful) applications, and sometimes libraries, that teach the student something that goes beyond language choice.
Lofty goals. But not practical, really. I'd like you to name me useful applications coming of the hands of students during their first couple years in a programming course. Concentrate instead on teaching
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That just so happens to be easier for more subjects, and more manageable, when a language abstracts certain details from the user (pointers, memory management, templates, etc).
And hides so many other things so important to programming. Ever tried teaching procedural programming with Java? C++ at least offers a few paradigms under the same language. Much more flexible as a teaching tool.