You really do have a hard time picking up what people say.

I claim that BEGIN or { is not a reason to select language A or language B. As long as the language settles for symbols I have on my keyboard, I'm quite fine.

But I do specify - and have specified more than once in this thread - reasons why I use C or C++ instead of Pascal. Never once have I written anything about the number of characters/token to be a deciding reason.

- Many of the customers I work with do require C or C++, since their people work in C or C++.
- Companies I have worked for have required C or C++, because their products are developed in C or C++, and their developers was employed based on good documented knowledge of C and C++, and the need to interface (including low-level) with other products written in C/C++.
- For every Pascal library I can find 10 C libraries, but for every C library I can not find a corresponding Pascal library. Why reinvent the wheel by using a language that limits the availability of reference code or libraries?
- I know that I can always find a C compiler if moving to another processor.
- I know that a significant percentage of the code can be migrated to another processor with another compiler with very little effort.
- Standard C has better ways to control the size of an integer than standard Pascal has, for the reason that C was aimed for hardware while Pascal was aimed for scholarly teaching of algorithms.
- I personally (after having used both languages full-time for several years each) feel that I am more productive in C - but not because 'BEGIN' has been renamed to '{'.
- I do have to work with Linux drivers regularly.
- I do have to extend existing ppp daemons, dhcp servers, ... regularly.
- I do regularly have to write libraries (static or dynamic) that other people who are using C or C++ are going to use.

In the end, Pascal isn't even in the competition for much of the work I do. So, why should I then switch to Pascal when I get home and do private projects where I can define all limits? Especially since my preferences really are C++ with a down-step to C for smaller processors.