[Discuss] node.js and npm on Debian?

[Kent Borg]

For work I need to mess with node.js, unfortunately.

So I installed node.js:

   apt-get install nodejs

But I can't figure out how to install npm. When I search for 
installation instructions they all seem to want me to pipe a curl 
command into a sudo bash. Huh? That's scary as hell.

Why is there no .deb for npm? What is so dangerous or otherwise skanky 
about npm that Debian 9 doesn't include it? Why should I let it have 
root privileges? It isn't as if Javascript has a great security 
reputation. And when they brag: "npm, is the largest ecosystem of open 
source libraries in the world", that doesn't make it sound very well vetted.

-kb, the Kent who might have to fire up a VM to try to isolate this 
beast (if only VMs actually offered much isolation).