[lolinder]

I think Deno could be a good choice for that—it's an entire server side JavaScript runtime built around the idea of using web standards instead of server-specific code.

In addition to using standard Request and Response objects in its built-in server framework, Deno's approach to dependencies and TypeScript lends itself really well to educational settings—with no compilation step and no package management step, it's as simple to get started with Deno server-side as it is to start with HTML/JS in the browser—just open up a text editor and start writing!

https://deno.com/learn/api-servers

[runarberg]

Yes, this is exactly how I want to write my servers while teaching web-development.

Only problem is it is kind of hard to justify teaching Deno when Node is so overwhelmingly used in the industry.

[lolinder]

I think high school is too early to be thinking too hard about what is used in industry.

I learned to program with Macromedia Flash, which was big at the time but was completely irrelevant by the time I actually was ready for my career. I don't regret it at all, though—it was perfect for me learning at the time, and taught me the skills that I've used to pick up dozens of different technologies since then.

For education it's far more important to choose technologies that minimize the barrier to entry and allow someone to start learning meaningful skills quickly, rather than forcing them to slog through the instruction manual for an industrial-strength technology before they even understand the basics. We don't apologize for starting a beginner woodworker on a lathe rather than a CNC machine.

[runarberg]

Indeed a very good point. Perhaps I’ll pick up Deno for my next set of students