the same is true of java - less so in newer versions, but older versions the stdlib was pretty slim and low-level and there was a massive amount of library code

the same is true of java - less so in newer versions, but older versions the stdlib was pretty slim and low-level and there was a massive amount of library code written to wrap around it. it still doesn't devolve to the javascript phenomenon of one-file (or one-function) libraries and so on. Dozens of libraries, sure, hundreds, maybe, but nobody actually has thousands of dependencies like you do on node. Apparently "number of repos maintained" is a KPI so there's some gamesmanship there. Maybe it's also being used as a caching thing, smaller files might be more cacheable if you don't minify? More generally though this may be the result of that "enterprise culture" that is sometimes looked down on in other situations, that at least stuff is getting bundled into appropriate packages for distribution vs just chucking every single file into a node package.