I think Micropython is fantastic and you can get an ESP8266 + FTDI cable for around $25. You can make this a web server and do fun hardware integrations with it

I think Micropython is fantastic and you can get an ESP8266 + FTDI cable for around $25. You can make this a web server and do fun hardware integrations with it like flashing LEDs for successful CI builds. Here's a good tutorial: https://docs.micropython.org/en/latest/esp8266/tutorial/index.html https://docs.micropython.org/en/latest/esp8266/tutorial/inde... ESP8266's can also run NodeMCU, which is Lua but node.js stuff translates super easily: https://nodemcu.readthedocs.io/en/master/ https://nodemcu.readthedocs.io/en/master/