Why teach C in University when students might prefer Python or Java? The specific implementation isn't important, it's the overarching concepts that matter.
I would argue that a programming course might want to teach all three of those. They are quite different languages which could be used to teach different underlying concepts (C for pointers and low level stuff (and maybe combined with some assembler), Java for object orientation and Python for dynamic typing).
Python vs PHP vs JavaScript would be another matter. I would say it doesn't matter so much which of those you teach. Same with e.g. Java vs C# vs C++.
The question remains why build an Atom plugin over an Excel macro? And what underlying concepts would you hope to teach students by doing this? And is this the best way to introduce those concepts?
