That's how any API is used 90% of the time.

Disagree. And, tip: don't say that at a job interview.

Tip: don't be a glib, smug prick on a date.

Please enunciate why something like asio is evil. You review the documentation and examples and the outlined primary use cases "just work". But you can dive in and do really complicated things.

I don't think any of Boost is "evil", and I haven't mentioned asio --- asio came out after I was done using Boost. But I agree with you that a lot of C++ code works because it's part of a cargo-cult culture, not because the interfaces themselves are particularly well- thought- out.