sclass CIString implements Comparable<CIString>, CharSequence {

  char[] data; // could be final except for persistence

  *() {}

  *(char[] s) { data = String.valueOf(assertNotNull(s)); }

  *(S s) { data = toCharArray(s); }

  // note that eq(s, cistring) is still false

  public bool equals(Object o) {

    if (o cast CIString)

      ret eqicCharArrays(data, o.data);

    /*if (o instanceof String) // One-way interoperability!

      return s.equalsIgnoreCase((String) o);*/

    false;

  }

  public int compareTo(CIString cis) {

    ret compareCharArraysIC(data, cis.data);

  }

  toString { ret str(data); }

  public char charAt(int index) { ret data[index]; }

  public int length() { ret data.length; }

  public CharSequence subSequence(int start, int end) {

    ret CIString(subCharArray(data, start, end));

  }

}