Roughly speaking your options are something like D, Zig, Nim, and Crystal. I would say your best bet actually is Rust in terms of RoI on self-investment. Rust

Roughly speaking your options are something like D, Zig, Nim, and Crystal. I would say your best bet actually is Rust in terms of RoI on self-investment. Rust likely has the brightest future and the most active community, good docs and momentum to build out crates to do the day-to-day things you'll end up tackling. That being said I gave Rust a hard look a couple years ago, got through most of the book but if I need something to happen on time I still find myself reaching for C nine times out of ten. Personally I rarely deal with things that get too complex so C's ability to just do the thing you want without getting in your way is invaluable to me. If it ever becomes a problem I think that's the time to rewrite in in Rust, but C is a fantastic language.