We have recently come under pressure to change our initial teaching language for CS1 from Ada 95 to Java. Apparently this is the sexy thing to do inspite of the poor/obscure C-like syntax, lack of a language standard, poor compiler error messages,..... The plan appears to be to use an OO approach in Java from the start although the Java textbooks which claim to use this approach seem to me to place far too high a demand on the students. I would be grateful for pointers to any arguments and information that might be useful in resisting such a change. Any Java horror stories would be particularly welcome. Also if anyone has taught CS1 using Ada with an OO aproach from the start, I would be interested in hearing of their experiences. Dr. Alan Barnes Computer Science Aston University Aston Triangle Birmingham B4 7ET U. K. Telephone: +44 121 359 3611 Ext. 4663 E-Mail: [log in to unmask] (JANET) Fax: +44 121 333 6215