> You could run a bit of JavaScript right off your filesystem. It would require nothing but a browser and a text editor.

It's good to show what's possible but it isn't fun and will bore them to death fast because it's very limiting for beginners.

I suppose it depends on what sparked their curiosity in the first place. Every professional has an origin story, something that made them want to slog through years of practice to get to where they are.

I can think of many ways to spark people's interest in cooking or music, but programming seems a bit harder to me. I never thought about why I love it, let alone why others should.

How would you do that?

> I can think of many ways to spark people's interest in cooking or music

Combining programming with music is a cool idea - https://sonic-pi.net/