You might also be interested to check out Nim. It transpiles to C before invoking the C compiler, so it runs as fast as C++ and has excellent C-compatibility (and by extension, excellent C++-compatibility).

Compiling a shared library is as easy as passing the "--app:lib" option to the Nim compiler: http://nim-lang.org/docs/nimc.html#compiler-usage-command-li...

The GC is optional; you can manage your memory manually if you prefer: http://nim-lang.org/docs/manual.html#types-reference-and-poi...

The Nim tutorial is here if you want to have a quick skim: http://nim-lang.org/docs/tut1.html