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by cybergoat 266 days ago
As hairy as it is, COM is an example of a cross language API/ABI. It's workable from C, C++, C# etc etc and even accessible in MacOS as "NSPlugin".
2 comments

Also the design macOS drivers use.

However on Windows, given its prevalence, especially since Vista, one would expect that by now Windows team would have bothered to make it less hairy, but elas it has never been a priority, when when they actually did something (WinRT) is was woefully mismanaged and now no one cares.

>As hairy as it is, COM is an example of a cross language API/ABI

I think the reverse will also be true. Any cross language API will get issues.

Indeed, example all the languages that target JVM, CLR and WebAssembly, and the missing bits between what the platform can do, what the "systems" language exposes, and what everyone else is able to expose or consume.