> With the web almost everyone has a machine that has a programmable environment by default again. I feel this is a very important and powerful advantage that’s often overlooked.
For this same reason, I’m disappointed that mobile browsers such as iOS Safari have yet to enable DevTools, e.g. a page inspector, network inspector, and JavaScript console. Especially for younger generations, there are many whose first computer will be a mobile device.
> you need to plug the device into its bigger brother
This exactly is the challenge. If your first computer is a mobile device, you would not have that “bigger brother” available.
iOS does have Swift Playgrounds [1] and Android has the excellent Termux [2] but access to the built-in JavaScript engine would open a whole new set of possibilities.
I was introduced to programming on a dinky little graphing calculator. My hope is that other “first computers” could offer similar opportunities for tinkering.
For this same reason, I’m disappointed that mobile browsers such as iOS Safari have yet to enable DevTools, e.g. a page inspector, network inspector, and JavaScript console. Especially for younger generations, there are many whose first computer will be a mobile device.