My preference is definately for digital, it enables a newcomer to photography, once the camera is purchased to experiment with it and all it's settings with no more cost to the hobby, that's accepting most households have a computer, printer and internet access.
Apart from a couple of cents for charging of batteries, there is only time to spend not $$ on endless rolls of film and development costs.
Advantages like, re-sizing, cropping, and all extremes of editing are easily learned and taken advantage of with the click of a mouse and some time, again costing you nothing, while enjoying what your work can look like and mastering your cameras and softwares settings.
If you get a dud shot out in the field, you can view it instantly and trash it, change some settings and shoot again, i think that's the biggest advantage with digital, instant access to the quality of the shot.
As i don't use film, i can't see any negatives

with digital
and don't ever see myself using film at all.
I'm sure others with more knowledge than me, can add much more to this debate, this is my take on it.....