It&#x27;s definitely useful, but if we can do that and <i>also</i> be interesting, wouldn&#x27;t that be better?<p>If this was a marketing course and the assignment was to sell people on the idea of learning to program, &quot;Hello World&quot; introductions would get a failing grade.<p>What&#x27;s distinct about Hello World is that it&#x27;s a ritualized version of learning how to write a print statement. Teachers sell it as an important rite of passage, but that just isn&#x27;t how students feel about it (and they shouldn&#x27;t). I think this disconnect only causes students to disengage.