[Python-Dev] Internal representation of strings and Micropython

[Hrvoje Niksic]

On 06/06/2014 05:59 PM, Terry Reedy wrote:
> The other problem is that a small slice view of a large object keeps the
> large object alive, so a view user needs to think carefully about
> whether to make a copy or create a view, and later to copy views to
> delete the base object. This is not for beginners.

And this was important enough that Java 7 actually removed the 
long-standing feature of String.substring creating a string that shares 
the character array with the original.

http://java-performance.info/changes-to-string-java-1-7-0_06/