I found VB6 really easy. Draw buttons on a form, double click, write code behind. There was also a huge ecosystem of components you could use. Delphi was similar in spirit.
I've also found Python + Gtk (in the Python 2 and Gtk 2 days) very simple and productive.
There are a ton of problems that you have in webdev that don't neccessarily exist in a local app. Mostly from the fact that you have state everywhere, in the client, on the server, and in the database, and you have to manage it asyncronously. React helps with it a bit, but in principle a desktop app can be "100% frontend" (I mean you still have something like MVC, but you don't have a separate server or a sandbox for window js where you have to communicate).
I've also found Python + Gtk (in the Python 2 and Gtk 2 days) very simple and productive.
There are a ton of problems that you have in webdev that don't neccessarily exist in a local app. Mostly from the fact that you have state everywhere, in the client, on the server, and in the database, and you have to manage it asyncronously. React helps with it a bit, but in principle a desktop app can be "100% frontend" (I mean you still have something like MVC, but you don't have a separate server or a sandbox for window js where you have to communicate).