You presume a great deal. "Everyone knows"? I've always found Lua to be a much nicer language than JS, certainly with far fewer ways to shoot yourself in the foot. I always thought "everyone knows" that. If it wasn't for the lack of libraries, Lua would be my first choice for teaching someone programming. "Doing something serious" in Lua is mainly hindered by the aforementioned lack of libraries/platforms, compounded by lack of experience.