Alternatives to C/C++

Instead of sticking with C/C++ for performance consider:
1.Free Pascal -Small memory use,very fast, easy debug
2.OCaml - medium memory use, fast,very terse, functional and secure.
3.FreeBasic - very fast,easy to use, low memory use, supports QBasic code as dialect. Other Basics to consider: PureBasic/Gambas/PowerBASIC
4.Digital Mars D- fast, easy to write and debug, large library, transition from C/C++ much easier.Garbage collection can be turned off.

FreePascal has macros. Example:

{$MACRO ON}
{$define bb:=begin}
{$define ee:=end}
{$define pos:=gotoxy}
{$define cls:=clrscr}
uses Crt;
bb;cls;pos(1,1);//index starts at 1
write('test',22222,5e10,$12,'/////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\---');pos(10,10);
writeln('test',1,3);//insert \n
ReadKey;ee.