Hi, whatever choice is made, it is very good initiative.
from my 3 points of view:
for learning: the best gpio python2 AND 3 lib is imho https://github.com/vsergeev/python-periphery, it is *clean*, pythonic and very portable.
and for lowmem boards do not underestimate micropython (python3 like) unix port which can use any C gpio lib easily with libffi.
for hacking: wiring* code is not so clean . But maybe give a chance to wiringX rewrite https://github.com/wiringX/wiringX/tree/rewrite
for time critical: really *none* of the above .