How do you write a function in C that restricts its parameters at a type level to a subset of an enum's set of values? I'm aware of how to do that at runtime, but I don't think I've ever seen it done at a type level. Same goes for detecting two different usages of a resource at a type level...got an example? I'm not saying you're wrong, just that my beginner level understanding of C has never seen anything remotely close to that, and from my attempt at googling, its apparent I don't even have the right vocabulary to find it.

Admittedly, a lot of this complaint with C/C++ might not be technical but cultural. The pervasive use of macros and templates might have an origins in avoiding some technical painpoint of the languages or compilers, but they have a real effect in how they are used. For example, I didn't know that C had consts until I started reading K&R...real world usages in open source code almost always use define.

And the same goes for rust...for example, the extremely restrictive type system of Rust means that a lot of effort has gone into making type errors extremely helpful, so that you don't end up wrapping your whole program in an unsafe block. In C, you are told that you have a type error, but in Rust, you are told why, and given extra context, and in common cases you are pointed towards what you probably wanted.