Yeah, I'm not seeing how "tree node_modules" is an argument against npm per se. Maybe one could argue npm, inc promotes the small-modules approach, but I don't think that's relevant to whether npm itself is a good package manager.

No matter whether you think small modules are good or bad, I personally have experienced npm to at least manage them well. Admittedly, however, I've never actually worked on projects of any great size.

You can customize keyboard shortcuts with System Preferences -> Keyboard -> Shortcuts -> App Shortcuts.

However, this may only serve to compound the problem.

Yeah, of course. But it's something like using a Dvorak keyboard layout -- every time you use another computer or help someone else you hit friction. Customizing system level key binding is something I've intentionally avoided.

Have you seen https://www.typescriptlang.org?

flow (http://www.flowtype.org) is also an alternative. Developed at Facebook.

I hadn't! I just started writing React last week, and coming from writing Swift it feels more wild-westy. Of course, that's how I felt going from Java to Objective C long before Swift came around, so I'm sure I'll get used to it. Nice to know about these kinds of things though!