Zig is a modern systems programming language designed to replace C while keeping manual memory management and zero hidden control flow — no garbage collector, no runtime, and a single statically-linked binary that runs anywhere. You can install Zig from ziglang.org/download , scaffold a project with zig init, and have a working command-line tool in about 50 lines that takes advantage of Zig’s comptime, error unions, and first-class C interop. The killer feature: zig build-exe -target x86_64-linux-musl cross-compiles to any target from any host with zero toolchain setup.