class vs. struct

As C++ interviewees know well, the only difference between class and struct in C++ is that class defaults to an access mode of private and struct defaults to public. This means that the difference between them is purely syntactic and has no semantic connotation whatsoever. Because of this, some C++ experts believe that the struct keyword should not be used at all and we should always use class { public: instead.
So why do developers continue to use both when there is no semantic difference? To people, struct and class communicate subtly different ideas. Developers often use the struct keyword (because of its C heritage) to indicate a lightweight, open record that is not encapsulated. For example, a small record intended to be written directly to a file is more likely to be a struct in these situations. The class keyword is then used for traditional C++ object orientation. The fascinating thing about this dichotomy is that even computer language keywords develop nuances of meaning apart from their original intent.