The reason why I prefer a GC based compiled language with types vs Rust or Zig is that they put memory allocation front end center in the language.

Sometimes I want to think about algorithms and memory management separately.

  scores = {"alice": 100, "bob": 85}
  scores["charlie"] = 92

This is why we need natural language -> pseudo code -> GC typed -> Low level systems.

Both Zig and Rust are fine as the last stage of this software development pipeline with different trade-offs. Problems arise when people try to use them earlier in the process.

Same here, as per my comment history.

What many miss is that having a GC, regardless of the implementation algorithm, doesn't preclude low level coding abilities, e.g. D, Swift, C#, Nim, Go,...