JavaScript Grew Up and Became a Real Language

Recently, I encountered Cookies API that befuddled me.

For example, to set Cookies:

    document.cookie = "username=John Smith; expires=Thu, 18 Dec 2013 12:00:00 UTC; path=/";

To erase it:

    document.cookie = "username=; expires=Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 UTC; path=/;";

Getting cookie by key involves splitting string and etc.

There must have been some constraint that shaped this API, and I'd love to learn about that constraint.

If I designed an API like this in a tech interview, nobody would hire me.

is this a meme?