<p>Computing courses for engineering (other than computer engineering/science) and statistics majors may use MATLAB (note: GNU Octave is a free similar language interpreter that you can use on your home computer) due to its common use in those fields.</p>
<p>For computer engineering/science majors, the introductory courses vary in their use of computer languages, although the emphasis is on the computer science concepts, not the programming language.</p>
<p>For example, Berkeley’s three course introductory sequence uses Python (formerly Scheme) in the first course (structure and interpretation of computer programs), Java in the second course (data structures), and C and MIPS assembly language in the third course (machine structures). But the use of computer languages differs at other schools.</p>
<p>Some consider schools which use only Java in computer science courses to be doing their students a disservice.</p>