> Except you don't want to teach people powerful languages as their first language.

Why the hell not? First you (I assume you're >>94) argue you can learn C in "little bite-size increments", now you claim you shouldn't do such a thing in another language?

Regardless, the relevant issue here is as thus: it has less to do with the power of a language, and more with its learning curve. And you can do a lot in Python without using its generators. How much can you do in C without pointers? This isn't even the same ballpark...

> damn near all of system-level software in modern Unix-like operating systems

May I be the first to point out that most of said system-level software need not be written in C? Indeed, the world might have been better off if a more powerful language had been used (and a less shitty library that thinks we're still in the era of the PDP and VAX). Think of all that wasted productivity.

Furthermore, >>100 is bang on. When was the last time you looked for employment?