CabSDL is a project mainly written in C++ and C, it's free.
SDL based frontend
CabSDL is a MAME frontend that is ideal for fullscreen applications, like your full-size cabinet or htpc application. It features an optional search, and will soon support easy filtering when a keyboard isn't available, like in a cabinet.
g++ -Wall -I /usr/include/SDL -I /usr/include/curl *.cpp configfile/configfile.cpp /usr/lib/libcurl.so.4.2.0 -lSDL_image -lSDL_ttf -lSDL -o cabsdl
g++ -framework SDL -framework SDL_ttf -framework SDL_image -framework Cocoa -I /opt/local/include/SDL *.cpp configfile/configfile.cpp "/Library/Application Support/Developer/Shared/Xcode/Project Templates/SDL Application/SDLMain.m"
Yeah, right.