port changes from flakelib/std

[chessai]

@arcnmx has been doing a bunch of work over on that fork, I would like to port those changes here if possible

[chessai]

@arcnmx would you like to become a co-maintainer of this project so we can coordinate efforts?

[arcnmx]

I would like to port those changes here if possible

I have been trying to submit PRs where relevant, but fell behind on it recently. I'll try to catch up and submit more of my pending changes soon.

would you like to become a co-maintainer of this project so we can coordinate efforts?

So I currently have limited time but would be interested in helping to push some things forward!
(In particular I'd like to figure something out for docs/examples, as there's a lot to work with here that isn't easily discoverable)

EDIT: I put together a bunch of the low-hanging fruit, feel free to review! There are still one or two larger changesets I still need to put together though.