have you ever tried to use Windows API and COM stuff? often even simple task requires several pages of complex and cryptic code. there is fine documentation for

have you ever tried to use Windows API and COM stuff? often even simple task requires several pages of complex and cryptic code. there is fine documentation for each function, but barely anyone can write meaningful programs using only this documentation, you need a code samples to do this, and problem is not because APIs are too low level -- they are just too complex. i had no luck of using Lisp Machines, but if you compare CL to them, i can say CL is absolute easiness, joy and bliss comparing to WinAPI/C++ stuff. even pure C++ (w/o WinAPI) gets very cryptic with modern template-metaprogramming stuff. so.. WinAPI and C++ were quite popular and prolific in 90-s, despite their weirdness and complexity. so maybe it's not actually so much problem of itself?