I care about performance, when it actually matters to acceptance testing.

The less C the merrier.

If you care about correct use of localisation, standard C and C++ libraries aren't really what you're looking for, or even C and C++ to start with.

C and C++ are the bedrock of operating systems with the best performance and extensive support for all languages.

The only reason why iostreams are slow is because of its incompatible buffering scheme, and the fact that C and C++ need to stay in sync when linked together. And that brand of slow is still faster than other languages, except sometimes those that delegate i/o to pure C implementations.

Historical baggage, they weren't the first system programming languages, got lucky with UNIX's license allowing for widespread adoption, and won't be the last one standing either.

Considering that they are evolving, I think they are more likely than not to stay standing. There might be other similar languages developed in parallel, but after over 30 years of whining C and C++ are still popular. I don't expect that to change.

    > If you care about correct use of localisation, standard C and C++ libraries aren't really what you're looking for, or even C and C++ to start with.

What do you recommend instead?

_("some text") ... aka gettext and friends.

QT, unfortunately.

Why do you "unfortunately"?

It's like using a sledgehammer for a picture hook. I think QT is a great tool, and it solves this problem nicely, but it's a full blown framework, and if you're already using something else - particularly if it's something "light" like SDL, or just a platform specific library like Win32, it's an awful lot to pull in (plus compile times, licensing, etc).

If you are using SDL, what is wrong with GNU gettext()?