[ccvannorman]

I can't help myself and surely someone else has already done the same. But the query

  obj.friends.filter(x=>{ return x.city=='New York'})
  .sort((a, b) => a.age - b.age)
  .map(item => ({ name: item.name, age: item.age }));

does exactly the same without any plugin.

am I missing something?

[joshribakoff]

The verbosity.

To your point abstractions often multiply and then hide the complexity, and create a facade of simplicity.