Thirded. I think “pick a GC lang” is an eminently reasonable default stance! I use JS/TS all day every day and am on record on the main ongoing Rust podcast just a few weeks ago saying most folks shouldn’t be teaching for Rust just because. There are things which require it, though, and cases where even if it isn’t a hard requirement it makes a big difference in experience whether you have to boot a VM or not! I also think there’s a high value to really great performance even in cases which don’t demand it, but in those cases it’s really a matter of whether and how the productivity trade offs work in your specific context with your specific team.