> whereas I am sure a C/C++ large project of a similar size wouldn't run out of memory
This is a common issue on large C++ projects for users with limited resources. You typically have to tinker with build settings and use a different linker etc.. to get the project building without OOMing.
> A lot of the tooling reminds me of NPM
My feeling is that you'd have the same criticism about a lot of other modern ecosystems because they allow you to pull dependencies easily. With things like vcpkg, that's also possible in C++ but even without it: nothing stops the same behavior of importing "random" code from the internet.
This is a common issue on large C++ projects for users with limited resources. You typically have to tinker with build settings and use a different linker etc.. to get the project building without OOMing.
> A lot of the tooling reminds me of NPM
My feeling is that you'd have the same criticism about a lot of other modern ecosystems because they allow you to pull dependencies easily. With things like vcpkg, that's also possible in C++ but even without it: nothing stops the same behavior of importing "random" code from the internet.