Strings, some practical advice. Now

Strings, some practical advice. Now that I've gone off a bit about the structure of strings, you're probably wondering what exactly good is it all? Knowing how things work doesn't necessarily translate to any sort of utility, at least not immediately. (I think it's essential for real understanding, but real understanding is in short supply on so many things...) But some good advice is in order. Like so many things I go on about, keep in mind that this is from the standpoint of a VM designer/implementor--I understand and do infrastructure. I have precious little experience implementing applications, unless you consider something like Parrot... [Squawks of the Parrot]