OK, I will bite. Why JavaScript? What would it bring to an interactive environment that Python does not?

When it comes to Linux machines and servers, it has been a long time since I've seen one that didn't have some form of Python already installed on it by default. I don't think I can say the same for nodejs.

python's `os` and `subprocess` molecules, basically. Javascript was designed for the web, not to be run locally on a computer (that's why there isn't a clear "import file" directive). I also like Python more :).