[vitoralmeida]

Lower the barrier? The barrier IS lower enough even for kids... Javascript is the basic of this generation. There aren´t any barriers for new programmers to just sit and learn programming. The tools are already available in the browser. You can learn web programming with your PC, mobile, chromebook, macbook, "any"book.

But yes, I would really like to have more mature and integrated developer tools.

[davb]

I think the big difference today is that the runtime (often cloud) and toolchain are much more involved. Nothing is self-contained any more. Dependencies are out of control.

Web apps make it easy for the user to access almost any service from almost any device. Unfortunately, this puts the burden on the developer to handle ongoing delivery, hosting, cross-platform compatibility. This can be intimidating, even insurmountable, for young developers in training.

It's a complicated world, these days.