On Monday 19 February 2001 02:10, Ben Tilly wrote:

[ Excellent more detailed explanation snipped]

> So they are doing the same thing, but you call to_str
> when you want to make an implicit assertion that what you
> have is something you should be doing string operations
> with, and not just something that (like everything) can
> be described in text.

A very lucid explanation and one which makes matz's "something that wants to 
pretend to be a string" an apt and nicely succinct summary, indeed.

Regards,

Kent Starr
elderburn / mindspring.com