[rustdebacletime]

I would use a newer version of C, and consider picking C++, if the choice was between C, C++, Ada, and Rust. (If pattern matching would be a large help, I might consider Rust).

For C++, there is vcpkg and Conan. While they are overall significantly or much worse options than what Rust offers according to many, in large part due to C++'s cruft and backwards compatibility, they do exist.

[Avamander]

> For C++, there is vcpkg and Conan

But I asked about C.

[rustdebacletime]

I looked it up, both vcpkg and Conan support C as well as C++, at least according to their own descriptions.