There are a number of shortcomings in the API, which I'd like to address here, and propose improvments for.
You're conflating language level strings with low-level strings. Don't.
STRINGs, the parrot structure and what S registers point to, are single-encoding, single-character set entities. They're designed for as fast access as feasable while maintaining the bare minimum of language/set/encoding abstraction. Parts of the core *will* assume they are concrete and, once transformed into a fixed-width format, can be accessed directly while avoiding all the overhead of the encoding (and even character set) functions.
PMCs are full-blown language level variables that can do whatever the heck they want when accessed. Everything you do can be mediated by C, Parrot, or perl/python/ruby/scheme/forth/BASIC/whatever code. Lazy strings, multi-encoding strings, tree structures with strin reps, whiatever.
Most, nearly all, high-level language level functionality should use PMCs. If a STRING is insufficiently flexible for what you want, that's a sign you shouldn't use it.
--
Dan
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Dan Sugalski even samurai
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teddy bears get drunk
