Well sure if this is your first time installing programming environment it might seem much. Now compare the same to C++, Java, Python, Go etc. They all have the

Well sure if this is your first time installing programming environment it might seem much. Now compare the same to C++, Java, Python, Go etc. They all have their own set of problems. Rust, well Rust has a good package manager. But I wouldn't go beyond that suggesting it be "beginner-friendly". That's a high mountain to climb even for experienced programmer. And npm is always installed alongside Node.js which I suggest installing by nvm. I guess this depends a lot on the level of assistance you can get with the installation process. Using sudo is almost always a dumb idea for installing anything. I admit frontend development with JS/TS is tricky business that I myself also abhor at times. When everything works it's fine but when it doesn't well. I'll be pulling my hair for a while, then trying to Google the issue which often works btw. The one of the biggest perks of a big ecosystem (with many beginner programmers) is that there is plenty of help for almost any problem. Once you get past your guttural "Node.js/JS sucks because of this and this" I find it to be (with TypeScript) a productive and fairly simple ecosystem. I haven't noticed big of a problem with newbie programmers starting to learn Node.js once you give them good enough tutoring. Webpack is not something you want to introduce them to for a long time (unless necessary) and yeah, it's a pain in the ass.