XPost: comp.lang.fortran, comp.lang.c++
From: janis_papanagnou+ng@hotmail.com

On 2026-01-30 13:56, Paavo Helde wrote:
>
> Locales are only useful when displaying info directly for the user to
> view.

Right. And also for entering data through the UI.

> Alas, most C++ projects are not GUI, but much lower level libraries

Probably.

> where there is no connection between the current machine
> locale and the locale of the human viewer

Sensibly so.

The system wide setting can be a default (but need not be). Similar
with user specific locale settings.

> who might eventually view the produced data.

As you say initially, it's a feature for the UI. You should separate
the internal data model from the UI data representation level.

> Moreover, most produced text data is consumed by other
> software nowadays,

This may or may not be true. (But as argument it's anyway irrelevant.)

> not humans, and having to deal with varying locales
> just breaks or at least complicates the things here.

No. Nothing is broken if designed sensibly. If the software supports
internal communication interfaces these should be specified and used
on both communication sides as defined. If you use (or misuse) the
standard UI for tools' access the tools may and (if necessary) should
control the locale setting on that level to conform to the definition.

> So locale-dependent
> behavior should not be the default, but rather something to be ordered
> explicitly and used rarely.

Wrong conclusion based on wrong assumptions or wrong use (or design).

If your software doesn't support locales it's anyway pointless. And
if your software sensibly supports it you typically have control over
it. (Can't tell about Windows, the initially discussed platform, but
I'd doubt that it's broken by design; or is it?)

Janis

> [...]

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