How is npm a model for anything? Just do a find . -type d -name node_modules | wc -l from any reasonably large project's root directory -- the results will

How is npm a model for anything? Just do a find . -type d -name node_modules | wc -l from any reasonably large project's root directory -- the results will defy your sense of parsimony. Packages which require other modules pegged to a specific version will install that package within their own node_modules directory, when they are already deep within a subdirectory of another node_modules directory. If two packages both require bar@X.Y.Z, they will both install that bar package in their own node_modules directory. It is literally the most naive way to write a package manager. What exactly is the overhead of a virtualenv? A few symlinks and a script which adds a few variables to your environment? Your calculation of what is and isn't complex is exactly backwards from the traditional Python perspective. As a Pythonista, I can't help but object to the homebrew/npm school of roll-your-own package management. It eschews parsimony, deliberate architecture planning, and learning from the mistakes of other projects in favor of aesthetics and (sorry, I can't think of another name for this) hipster-DIYism.