How familiar are you with the ML family of programming languages? If the answer is "not at all", that might be the rabbit hole you are looking for... it'll take

How familiar are you with the ML family of programming languages? If the answer is "not at all", that might be the rabbit hole you are looking for... it'll take you places. I recommend F#. You seem to be concerned with... delivery. I find that the prospect of starting a project that may never get completed is a showstopper for me and so I've let go the idea of ever achieving anything a couple years back. You might discover things are perfectly fine like that.