Seriously? This is what you're going with? We're talking about very simple, elementary programming. To be worried about maintaining code that you learn how to do in the first few classes of any programming 101 class is absolute insanity.

> Disagree. If there are issues with npm shrinking not working then you absolutely need to resolve them

Can't resolve them if the module disappears or is replaced with a malicious module. Nor if you or npm are having connectivity issues (which, on the npm side, happens very frequently).

> Just like if you've already written a good general-purpose sorting function, there's no point writing a separate integer sort routine, even if the implementation could be simpler than the general-purpose one.

Not sure what you're getting at. If you need a sorting function you can probably use whatever is built into the language unless you need to sort across a distributed data set in which case write something or find a dependency to use.

> You already depend on your packaging/dependency tools, so you might as well use them all the time.

Absolutely, unequivocally, no. What you're saying is you should install and use dependencies, from third parties which you do not know anything about, for every single, possible thing just so you can use the tools "all the time". That's so irresponsible and backwards.

Use the tools for the job they were meant to be used for. Need a dependency because someone can do it better / faster / cheaper then you? Then grab it by all means. But don't use it for every tiny function and for loop just because you want someone else to maintain it.