Echo JS 0.11.0

So we compare a native implementation with an implementations that require a number of libraries and still require about the same amount of code.

Having no Elm knowledge, I find the native javascript implementation much more easy to understand although I might have added a few lines to avoid corner cases.

Yes.  Elm is very nice, but I agree with your sentiments.

I am seeing a lot of folks on github with elaborate transpiling features configured for up to basically ES8, who are also still pulling in all of lodash for one line utility functions like "times."  

The ease of expression that newer ES grants in working with lists and objects makes much of (granted not all) Ramda and lodash unnecessary.  We're going to have to grow into our new standards a little bit yet, but doing so will help trim off the fat going forward; gradually these things will be made easier to understand for newcomers on-boarding.