I think I'd prefer to use Python in most cases. My data structures class was taught by a professor who LOVED a ten year old book. Unfortunately, more than half of the assignments in the book wouldn't compile with GCC. Everyone I know who took that class said it was the hardest class they took in college because you basically had to rewrite every program from scratch.

I still preferred C to Java. I'm sure Python would have made that class way easier, though I do love pointers.