I agree with this. I currently teach beginning programming using JavaScript in HTML, and we currently just provide pre-made web pages for the students to write

I agree with this. I currently teach beginning programming using JavaScript in HTML, and we currently just provide pre-made web pages for the students to write their basic programs in. They come in already knowing basic HTML as they've taken a previous class. But I've been thinking of rewriting the curriculum to use Node.JS for about a year now. The only reason I haven't yet is that the students seem to enjoy doing things in web pages. I think there's something awesome about writing console apps, but I don't know if they really hold the attention that today's students have.