VueJS also has a stack of devDependencies, look at the package.json file. * Why are there dependencies on the Babel project? Because most people aren't that ex

VueJS also has a stack of devDependencies, look at the package.json file. * Why are there dependencies on the Babel project? Because most people aren't that excited about writing in ES5 any more, for better or worse. * Why are there 264 directories in node_modules? Because there's functionality there somebody didn't want to re-write. * Single minified deploy files are the norm. Along with culling artifacts that aren't actually being used. * I'd rather use NPM than figure out all the dependencies myself, same reason I use Maven for Java projects. * Nobody "enjoys over-complicated solutions". Just like nobody "enjoys rewriting stuff that smarter people already wrote". * Your back-end work is dependency-free?! I haven't written a back-end system in years that hasn't relied on the work of others. The bottom line is that if you're not writing anything complicated, back- or front-end, then you might have the time and resources to write (and test and maintain) simplistic solutions. I haven't had that luxury for years. Front-end frameworks are just like back-end frameworks: they solve certain kinds of problems that are repeated across projects.