> I've never understood why this is deemed such a big ask by so many people.

It's the “Script” bit of “JavaScript”. Once your scripting language needs compiling, it's jumped the shark. You need to go back to the drawing board and invent something else. “I don't want to compile JavaScript” is the face of it, yes, but at its core, this sentiment rails against the entire bloated, over-developed, under-engineered state of contemporary JavaScript.