There are lots of representations for strings. In most languages they pick one set of tradeoffs and run with it. In haskell the "default" implementation (at least the one in the prelude) is a pretty bad choice, but unlike most other languages (really) good implementations exist for pretty much every way you can twist these things. This can be a good thing, but it also leads to confusion, and frustration to find the right types and how to convert them.
Katie Ots katiejots
