Strings as a uniform representation & tcl

[Olin Shivers <shivers@lambda.ai.mit.edu>]

    >     If one had to choose a single type for everything, a string is a
    > pretty good choice.   Why not a number?  How would you represent a
    > string with a number?

Perlis, as usual, summed it up well in one of his aphorisms:

    The string is a stark data structure, and everywhere it
    occurs there is much hiding of information.

This is what is wrong with both Unix and tcl. Their power is also a great
weakness: they are designed around a "least common denominator"
representation, strings. What it buys you is that everything interoperates.
The above aphorism explains what it costs you.
    -Olin