I would think that the extremely complicated algorithms that are often used are just intrinsically difficult, and things like metaprogramming allow a lot of exp

I would think that the extremely complicated algorithms that are often used are just intrinsically difficult, and things like metaprogramming allow a lot of expressivity in C already. Having to think through race conditions is likely more of an issue than having to think through 3 obvious but distinct ways of doing the same thing syntactically. Even though I would prefer there be only one obvious way to do things.