There is also a big programmer efficiency to be gained by having batteries included library: The new person coming to a project has learned the same batteries already, and it need not to re-learn new set of minipackages the last person working on a project has used.
In fact this should be the key selling point for stdlib to JavaScript. It actually saves money from their employers if trivial functions are mostly in the same place.
However pushing a stdlib is difficult there is a lot of hate for Python's "kitchen sink" library in JavaScript world which is totally misplaced. It maybe founded on fact that you should then minify the whole package to use one function in it, but this could be solved with dead code elimination (with proper type checking) in the minifier.
> there is a lot of hate for Python's "kitchen sink" library in JavaScript world
Is there? Most "js people" have never had the pleasureful experience of working with a "pleasantly opinionated" language like Python and the similar feel of its libraries, even the 3rd party ones.
Really, there's something really awesome in the Python ecosystem that should be spread to others before node takes over the world: If done right, being opinionated ("one way to do it") and centrally planned (a BDFL or smth like that) is A GOOD THING for an open-source language/infrastructure project! And it's also good if you extend the philosophy to the libraries and frameworks. Don't ditch the baby with the bathwater!
But I have a really hard time translating this message to "node-speak" unfortunately... Thanks for the "saves money" tip though, never thought of that, will try it ;)
In fact this should be the key selling point for stdlib to JavaScript. It actually saves money from their employers if trivial functions are mostly in the same place.
However pushing a stdlib is difficult there is a lot of hate for Python's "kitchen sink" library in JavaScript world which is totally misplaced. It maybe founded on fact that you should then minify the whole package to use one function in it, but this could be solved with dead code elimination (with proper type checking) in the minifier.