Yes, but a big draw of using node at all is that it's JavaScript. I write some function "templateThisString" and I can use it on both the server and the client.

Yes, but a big draw of using node at all is that it's JavaScript. I write some function "templateThisString" and I can use it on both the server and the client. Now I also want to use it in my build process. If I switch to another language I have double the work.