Thanks for your quick and thorough reply!
The main reason that I want to use the C language is because I'm already fairly familiar with it from previous programming experiences. My second motive for using C is the free online course, https://www.edx.org/course/utaustinx/utaustinx-ut-6-01x-embedded-systems-1172. While I understand that they're using Windows, I figured I'd just follow along for my own personal benefit.
I suppose I could just use Energia with C++ and not implement objects, but I'm a bit worried with compatibility since C++ isn't a strict superset of C.