Why not Python? It has a fairly sensible syntax, a broad standard library, a massive library of powerful and useful third-party packages, and a great ecosystem

Why not Python? It has a fairly sensible syntax, a broad standard library, a massive library of powerful and useful third-party packages, and a great ecosystem for online/interactive learning (JupyterLab/CoLab/etc). Assuming that many of its audience are self-learning/non-CS-careerists, Python's popularity and adoption rate is also going to be a major draw. Learning Python as an attractive job skill is as much an incentive as the intellectual accomplishment.