Zig is hard but worth it

Alternative languages are cool, but I struggle to see the point of a systems programming language that doesn't offer static memory safety in 2023. Rust isn't necessarily the best and final answer--it seems like there is a broad design space to explore for memory-safe systems programming languages. But Zig seems to occupy the same local maximum as C--a relatively simple, non-safe systems language--and doesn't have a killer feature that justifies not just using C.

If we’re comparing C to Zig I’m not sure what memory safety even needs to be mentioned for.

For C to Zig there’s plenty of reasons one might prefer Zig. For memory safety obviously you might opt to choose neither.

In a vacuum, one might prefer Zig. But given that everyone already knows C and the ecosystem is so highly developed, it takes a gamechanging feature like Rust's memory safety to make an alternative language attractive (beyond a "this is cool" project--which I totally support).

I haven't tried Zig, but "all the things you like about C plus better versions of most/all of the awkward bits" seems like a reasonable value proposition. Especially since the compiler can apparently let you use C painlessly alongside your Zig -- enabling incremental rewriting.

Can you use Zig painlessly alongside C? Does `zig cc` or an equivalent provide for writing Zig libraries that then can be called by a main C function?