[jandrewrogers]

It depends on the purpose. If the objective is maximum scale and performance then Zig. The low-level mechanics of userspace I/O and execution scheduling in top-end database architectures strongly recommends a language comfortable expressing complex relationships in contexts where ownership and lifetimes are unavoidably ambiguous. Zig is designed to enable precise and concise control in these contexts with minimal overhead.

If performance/scale-maxxing isn't on the agenda and you are just trying to crank out features then Rust probably brings more to the table.

The best choice is quite arguably C++20 or later. It has a deep set of somewhat unique safety features among systems languages that are well-suited to this specific use case.