Dependency Management Query
How does npm resolve dependencies? Observing multiple versions of similar packages, is this redundant installation behavior intentional in npm’s design?
npm first tries to use an existng version and if it cant, installs its own copy. its kind of reusable design, although it might create duplicate deps. make sense for avoiding version conflicts tho.
npm resolves dependencies by constructing a nested tree instead of determining a single global version for all packages. In my projects, I observed that each dependency can specify its own version range, and npm installs separate copies to ensure compatibility across modules. This behavior, while it may seem redundant, intentionally isolates packages to prevent version conflicts. Although it may result in a heavier node_modules directory, it effectively safeguards against potential errors due to incompatible dependency versions, ensuring smooth functionality in diverse environments.