Very nice analogy (the lingua franca). The state of CS and the convergence we're seeing toward the web worries me though.
A common rebuttal to that is "it allows people to get into programming more easily". I personally think this is horseshit. There are a multitude of ways to get started with programming, and javascript is in many ways the one that teaches the worst practices and patterns of them all.
But I don't really think it will inhibit growth. I think that it is more likely just to create two main groups of people that call themselves programmers. The people that know HTML and jQuery and the actual programmers. I don't think it will do anything to the growth of real programming, it just might mean we get lots of people calling themselves programmers who really aren't. But that happens already.
As a self taught developer, I find it offensive that you think I would go through all the trouble of teaching myself how to code, and then rest on my laurels, like I wasn't inherently curious and thoughtful.
Since learning Javascript front to back, I've developed a curiosity with strictly typed languages, assembly, computer science, Big O notation and other (what I consider) hardcore disciplines in computing.
Javascript was my gateway, and I love it to death, but I'm not a javascript developer any more than a C developer is simply a C developer.
As someone that codes since 1986 with a CS degree, I am often dismayed what many "programmers" seem to know nowadays.
Lowering barrier to entry is +EV move, almost always. It multiplies crud but more importantly multiplies the 10% that are worth the crud.
Not sure where you are, but universities in Europe are not like in USA.
In many countries public universities are more renowned than private ones and in some, it is even quite symbolic what you pay per semester.
Type systems, complexity analysis, and assembly language programming, for example, aren't "hardcore disciplines in computing". They're the basic foundation upon which the rest of our knowledge is built. They are among the minimal level of knowledge that all programmers should have.
When you understand concepts such as those first, and are exposed to JavaScript later on, it's plainly obvious how inexcusably bad JavaScript is. While theory may not always work well in practice, JavaScript goes out of its way to ignore sensible and practical theory in every way possible.
People starting with JavaScript (or PHP; JavaScript isn't alone in being a bad language), but without this basic theoretical knowledge, don't seem to realize how bad the language truly is. It's unfortunate to see them not accept and admit to these flaws, even after the learn that there are much better ways of doing things.
Your second sentence pretty much defines "hardcore". The "hard core" of anything is what supports the rest. Originally the term is from the mid-19th century and refers to a layer of broken stones and bricks that provided support for a building project, commonly roads.
People's curiosity is what motivates them to experiment and learn new things, not how or what language they learn (I started with Basic which apparently causes brain damage and I'm getting along fine). If they are curious on their own, they'll pick up data-structures/asm/c etc.
Uau!? Do such universities exist?