Zig is way better than C in many other respects, so if you want a modern sane language and you’re either a Rust luddite or working on a project where memory safety isn’t that important, it might be attractive.
Like, if the choice is C or Zig, then Zig is pretty much a no-brainer (or it will be when it hits 1.0). It just fixes so many insane things about C that have been broken for literal decades.
working on a project where memory safety isn’t that important
I can’t really imagine anything where this is not the case, unless you’re doing like… I dunno, small scripts for personal use or something? But why would you use Zig or C or even Rust for that, just do Python or even bash at that point? Python is memory safe and perfectly suitable for very small programs where static analysis gives little benefit.
There are definitely some cases where memory safety isn’t especially important:
Single player games
Apps that don’t process external data (e.g. a simple calculator).
Lots of things running on microcontrollers, where the form of input could never possibly cause any security issues. E.g. a motor controller or a basic syringe pump or a (non-smart) washing machine or something.
Tests, e.g. I’ve considered writing RISC-V tests in Zig. They’re traditionally written in C or assembly.
In cases like those, memory unsafety mainly leads to non-security bugs and annoying debugging sessions. But I wouldn’t say it’s as much of a deal breaker compared to e.g. writing a video codec or font renderer or web browser or DNS server or whatever.
I still think Rust is a better choice than Zig in most cases anyway, even ignoring memory safety. But in these cases it’s at least a defensible choice.
Zig is way better than C in many other respects, so if you want a modern sane language and you’re either a Rust luddite or working on a project where memory safety isn’t that important, it might be attractive.
Like, if the choice is C or Zig, then Zig is pretty much a no-brainer (or it will be when it hits 1.0). It just fixes so many insane things about C that have been broken for literal decades.
I can’t really imagine anything where this is not the case, unless you’re doing like… I dunno, small scripts for personal use or something? But why would you use Zig or C or even Rust for that, just do Python or even bash at that point? Python is memory safe and perfectly suitable for very small programs where static analysis gives little benefit.
There are definitely some cases where memory safety isn’t especially important:
In cases like those, memory unsafety mainly leads to non-security bugs and annoying debugging sessions. But I wouldn’t say it’s as much of a deal breaker compared to e.g. writing a video codec or font renderer or web browser or DNS server or whatever.
I still think Rust is a better choice than Zig in most cases anyway, even ignoring memory safety. But in these cases it’s at least a defensible choice.