We already know C's future.
The people using old C are self-selected as those who like it the way it is. They accepted atomics because of new hardware. The place to ask for new, better stuff is at the C++ desk, and it has lots already.
Re:Why is strlen so complex in C?
by klingonopera on Monday August 26, 2019 @11:32PM
(#20806106)
Well, it has. You just said so, it's (ptr+len).
...it's the philosophy of the C language: There's minimal bloat on the upside, but you have to know what you're doing and how to be able get it on the downside.
That's like saying C doesn't need pointers in the type system, because it already has pointer-sized integers (BCPL actually had that philosophy).
Slices greatly improve interfaces. Especially if you want to return a (sub)slice of something, C doesn't have any non-clunky solution.
Unfortunately, C is dead. Microsoft thinks C is dead, and intentionally keeps their compiler awful. Even ISO WG doesn't seem to have a vision for C's future and have been rearranging deck chairs for the last 20 years.