title: Is there a de facto registry for discovering Java libraries?
body: <p>I grew out of touch with the Java community as I embraced Javascript and node.js for web development. I found myself blown away by the NPM package registry for Javascript tools and libraries. If it's been done, chances are I can find it and even choose from multiple competing implementations. And then in one fell swoop I can <code>npm install</code> it to make it available to my project.</p>
  
  <p>I'm now getting back into Java and haven't found anything analogous. My searches for Java libraries have led me all around the net, usually to blog compilations. I've browsed <a href="https://mvnrepository.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">the maven repository</a> for libraries but have not yet found it helpful. Maven doesn't seem written for discovery, only for enabling downloads and managing dependencies. There is rarely more than a one-line description for any package, whereas NPM makes the github READMEs accessible at a glance, all presented in a consistent way for easy comparison.</p>
  
  <p>Is there a de facto registry for discovering Java libraries? If not, how do people go about finding the libraries you need? Rummaging through Google as I've been doing?</p>
  
  <p>(I'll mainly be developing in Kotlin and would love a way to discover Kotlin solutions too.)</p>