> I use: https://github.com/dlang/dmd/blob/master/compiler/src/dmd/ba... It's pretty minimalist on purpose. I don't much care for kitchen sink types.

I feel you're demonstrating exactly the problems I highlighted through your example here -- including the very lack of acknowledgment of the overall problem.

The problem is there is no such thing as a string type that doesn't have problems one way or another.

The very simplest and straightforward way is to use the gc to manage the memory. It works very very well. All the other schemes have serious compromises.

That's why you can use the method most appropriate in D for the particular usage. I routinely use several different methods.