I think Scratch makes a great introduction to programming because of the playfull assets which are bundled with it, sprites, sounds, backgrounds etc. This significantly lowers the bar to making something productive and visually stimulating, something which I believe is necessary to engage when competing with modern games, phones etc.

There is no text based language (please correct me if I have missed one) that makes any attempt to bridge this gap by providing a library of assets on tap. Yes there are places you can find sprites etc, but they are not just there, included. I feel this has been the biggest stumbling block for my daughter moving on from Scratch. To produce something in a text based language that even comes close is so much more work, anything that is achievable just isn't stimulating enough.

We have looked at Roblox, I agree with the article this has potential, making a moving platform in an obby for example, but this hasn't stuck with her. We have had more traction with custom ents in Minecraft, creating in Blockbench then messing with the configs to alter the behaviour, but this is just Mineraft specific.

I should hope to do more with js/ts scripting in Minecraft, but using bedrock this is in it's infancy so there isn't much out there for inspiration, hacking around with or tutorials for her to look at herself. In this regard, D is no better a first language than any other.