Ahaa so this is the thread where all the basic language fanboys are
I've also been tinkering with the platform for a while. I've tried a few of the different firmware options, but currently I most like the LUA version(NodeMCU). What's great in it is that it has an interactive interpreter, so it's quick to test new hacks simply on the repl console. As in, type a command to the console, the interpreter processes it and sends the resusult back.
The first versions I tried back in last fall were quite buggy, especially the networking would hang pretty often. But recent versions seem so far pretty good.
There is also a http server based repl available, seems quite handy so far. Not very secure though
, maybe one could add a note in the http page that hackers should not try to break it.
https://github.com/juho-p/nodemcu-repl-server