From: christopher.j.meisenzahl@... Date: 2002-12-03T23:56:13+09:00 Subject: I think I finally understand the Symbol type! ... In short, I think it buys me what my C compiler would call "string pooling". ;-) Thanks to all who jumped to help explain! Have a good day, Christopher Christopher J. Meisenzahl CPS, CSTE Senior Software Testing Consultant Spherion christopher.j.meisenzahl@citicorp.com