AZ> I was all like, "No Way!" and Vincent was all ::

 VD>>   - Open String Type. This is a special string that allows for dynamic
 VD>>     length strings within message headers. The basic structure
 VD>> consists
 VD>>     of a length byte, followed by that length of characters (that make
 VD>>     up the string). A simple (pascalesque) method of reading such a
 VD>>     string would be:

 AZ> Why not use a C string type?

one reason that i see is that for pascalers to work with c strings takes a
bit more work and even then they may not be usable in the fashion that a
pascaler may want to use them.

a pascal string, on the other hand, is very easy for a c programer to read.
simply read in the length byte and then read that count of characters. the
c programers don't have to worry about any kind of string length either.

note also that i'm not involved in any of the sysops tech net stuff but
only offer these observations from years of experience... i also happen to
know that many of those involved in STN are pascal programers though there
are some c coders, too 

)\/(ark