I think you're on the right track. We all (I hope) agree that stuff like this should be standardized. But that's not the same as "should be a package".
At the very least, W3, or Mozilla Foundation, or something with some kind of quasi-authority should release a "JS STD" package that contains a whole bunch of helper functions like this. Or maybe a "JS Extras" package, and as function usage is tracked across the eco-system, the most popular/important stuff is considered for addition into the JS standard itself.
Having hundreds of packages that each contain one line functions, simply means that there are hundreds of vectors by which large projects can break. And those can in turn break other projects, etc.
The reason, cynically, that these all exist as separate packages, is because the person who started this fiasco wanted to put a high a download count as possible on his resume for packages he maintains. Splitting everything up into multiple packages means extra-cred for doing OSS work. Completely stupid, and I'm annoyed nobody has stepped up with a replacement for all this yet.
At the very least, W3, or Mozilla Foundation, or something with some kind of quasi-authority should release a "JS STD" package that contains a whole bunch of helper functions like this. Or maybe a "JS Extras" package, and as function usage is tracked across the eco-system, the most popular/important stuff is considered for addition into the JS standard itself.
Having hundreds of packages that each contain one line functions, simply means that there are hundreds of vectors by which large projects can break. And those can in turn break other projects, etc.
The reason, cynically, that these all exist as separate packages, is because the person who started this fiasco wanted to put a high a download count as possible on his resume for packages he maintains. Splitting everything up into multiple packages means extra-cred for doing OSS work. Completely stupid, and I'm annoyed nobody has stepped up with a replacement for all this yet.