Coming from a (primarily Windows) desktop development background, I can definitely tell you that JS/HTML/CSS and the DOM is some of the most complex, over-engin

Coming from a (primarily Windows) desktop development background, I can definitely tell you that JS/HTML/CSS and the DOM is some of the most complex, over-engineered stuff to ever see the light of day. It seems simple, but that's because it was simple initially, and now it's grown into this monster that has very little design at all and is just piles and piles of APIs and code added on top of other APIs and code. Desktop development is blessedly simple, in contrast. The problem is that desktop development APIs and UI toolkits have been neglected for many years in favor of web and mobile, so now desktop development is also a fractured mess because much of it is outdated or hasn't kept up with current graphic design and UI standards. But, at its core, desktop development doesn't struggle with oddball concepts like promises and other bizarre features that were introduced to overcome issues with the overall design of the language/environment.