It does take a lot of space for devs, but personally I find that absolutely irrelevant, because it’s your end user’s experience that really matters, and - as a dev - you are most likely to have a much better rig and internet connection than your average Joe.
Sure, in many cases the dev’s computer is powerful enough to handle that.
However:
The more the dependencies, the more likely it is to pull-off a supply chain attack. Any of those thousands modules can be compromised and infect either the user or the developer.
Not all computers are optimized for working with so many tiny files. Have you ever worked in a company that uses McAfee Antivirus? Even Defender can be a massive performance hit in some cases.
It does take a lot of space for devs, but personally I find that absolutely irrelevant, because it’s your end user’s experience that really matters, and - as a dev - you are most likely to have a much better rig and internet connection than your average Joe.
Sure, in many cases the dev’s computer is powerful enough to handle that.
However: