I will (also) be teaching a course in OO programming
next spring. This will be a new course and will be
offered as a seminar course. (The prerequisites would
be an introductory SE or simply a data structure course.)

I need some suggestions from you experts.

First, on the language to be used: Based on your
experience/knowledge, which OO language do you suggest?

Several languages are fairly popular: C++, SmallTalk,
Actor (not Hewitt's but the one from the Whitewater group).
But C++ seems to be the most popular, especially in the
industry. Am I right?

Now, if I choose C++, where would I get a free/inexpensive
C++ compiler? (We only have SmallTalk and G++ languages.)

Second, on the textbook to be adopted: Again, based on
your experience, what book do you suggest? I have several
OOP and C++ books, but haven't used any one of them for
instruction, thus I need some assistance from you.

Many thanks in advance,

Regards...
mariam@unocss.unomaha.edu

PS. I will summarize and post the responses I get.
However, feel free to post your response publicly.