I teach coding to inner city junior and senior highschool kids in Los Angeles. Buying computers was a non-starter for our organization, so we're making do with old Windows machines, which are easy to get a hold of. This is what most of our kids have if they have a computer at home or a laptop they can bring with them.

For the beginning class, we use Chrome, a text editor, and a lightweight web server app ("Mongoose"), and we learn basic code concepts in JavaScript. Setup time is minimal and anything we do in class the kids can do at home on whatever computer they have access to. For the intermediate class, we install Virtual Box and everyone gets a copy of the same Ubuntu virtual machine image, whether the host machine is Mac or Windows, and we learn Linux and Ruby (it could just as easily be Python). We're looking at Cloud 9 IDE as another potential solution, one that would be completely install-free.

In fact, the only laptop a student's brought so far that we couldn't make use of was a Chromebook.

Is there any particular reason for Ubuntu?

The reason I sarcastically suggested Raspis is because this is literally what they were meant for.

Mostly it's my preference, but it seems like major software projects usually have an easy install path for Ubuntu (oftentimes a custom PPA, which is an Ubuntu-specific feature). But if Ubuntu is supported, Debian oftentimes is as well, so Raspbian would probably be fine.

My bigger concern would be the ARM architecture / switch off x86 in general. Even getting Crashplan (a Java program) working was a PITA due to that.

You can buy 5 Raspberry Pis for every 1 Chromebook. It may not be better but it's much cheaper.

In my opinion, I think a second hand mac is going to be much better than a brand new Pi for a child to learn on...

You'd also benefit from having a somewhat similar hardware system rather than having a multiple of different laptops with different specs, ports etc.

> You can buy 5 Raspberry Pis for every 1 Chromebook

Not really though. Once you add the SD card, case, and USB power supply, you're at at least $80 (I know because I own one and that's what I had to buy).

Once you add the keyboard, mouse, and monitor to be on parity with the Chromebook you'll be lucky to be under $200.

The one advantage is that the pis are likely cheap enough that the kid can take them with them. I assume most of them have a TV at home, and a mouse and keyboard can be found free or under ten bucks.

That said Chromebooks would likely be the better answer then Raspi or Macbooks.