[j_jochem]

Not a lot better:

  $ unzip -l /usr/java/jdk1.8.0_77/jre/lib/rt.jar | wc -l
  20138

It's just less of a burden on the host filesystem because those files are usually loaded straight from the jar (i.e. zip file).

[j_jochem]

Also note that this is only the standard library. If you add an enterprise framework you're probably pushing 50k.

[ivan_gammel]

JRE is a platform, so if you counting platform files, why not also counting NodeJS or browser sources too?

I'd rather look at comparable thing like JEE server + Spring + some server-side renderer like Thymeleaf.

[marpstar]

I'd argue that Angular2 is a platform as well.

[smrtinsert]

Yes, let's compare the industrial strength tested jdk with the average npm lib developer.