For C++ there are Boost, Folly, Absl, several more large libraries with reputable orgs behind them. I'm surprised someone doesn't make a big npm lib like that.
Not hating on the author but I doubt similar compromise would happen to Facebook or Google owned package.
Because you have to figure out what should be in it, and coordinate the distribution. It's not like there's a reference implementation of JavaScript maintained by a well-known team that you consciously install everywhere that you need it.
Node is pretty much everywhere regarding JavaScript cli and web apps (server side). As for the web it’s hard to argue for a slim library when most sites are dumping huge analytics bundle on us.
> If your mega package decides to drop something you need you pretty much have to follow.
Or you can code it in. Mega packages can be very stable. Think SDL, ffmpeg, ImageMagick, Freetype...There's usually a good justification for dropping something alongside a wide deprecation windows. You don't just wake up and see the project gone. It's not like the escape codes for the unix terminal are going to change overnight.