the quest for a mutable string (buffer)

[Skaperen]

that looks like a possibility. but it also looks like using a list. i think i need to try it and see how well it works. i do want to avoid having to code 'foobar' as 'f','o','o','b','a','r'. things that get 'foobar' in some form need to be able to accept it as if it got 'f','o','o','b','a','r'.