AutoCAD does have a command line, though. The most common commands have names one or two characters long, and you can use Space instead of Enter, so it's really

AutoCAD does have a command line, though. The most common commands have names one or two characters long, and you can use Space instead of Enter, so it's really comfy, you can dedicate one of your hands entirely to the mouse, and use the keyboard with the other one. Once activated, these commands start asking for arguments, which you can select with similar short abbreviations, or pick a point with the mouse. You also have customizable toolbars, which can be placed both horizontally and vertically around the drawing area, and you can pick which buttons you want exposed and which you don't need (often). The menus are mostly to help you explore the available functionality while you are still a beginner. Also, having a fixed location for a piece of functionality makes it easier to refer to it in a book, for example. This was twenty years ago, though. I remember there was a push to make it more Windows-looking with every new release (It's Unix native, IIRC). Maybe, by now, it's a joke. I don't know.