I agree, and my belief is as soon as beginners get to the inevitable early hurdle of "ah well if you want to type a number into input() you have to cast it to an integer type..." the vague allusions to simplicity surrounding Python vanishes and you might as well have started with Java like most college curriculums do.
I fail to see what the argument is here. So Python is a strongly typed language with no (/little) implicit casting, therefore you might as well learn another a language that shares those supposed faults but is potentially more complicated in every other way, because...?
Is having to explain namespaces, public vs private, static and so on just to get the most basic Java possible program off the ground on mostly the same level of complexity? Or do you just glance over those initially, like a complete beginner would for type casting an input in Python?
