my take -- i actually like C (despite its warts) because the mental model of the compiler is small and i can usually reason correctly about what will happen.

my take -- i actually like C (despite its warts) because the mental model of the compiler is small and i can usually reason correctly about what will happen. in rust, it's certainly possible for an inexperienced developer to attain the same level of intuitive reasoning, but the mental model for the compiler is orders of magnitude larger. ultimately, rust wants the user to trust the compiler, rather than understand the compiler. zig embraces the small mental model and gets rid of almost every C wart (in my eyes). fewer built-in guarantees, but less magic.