p7proc (int)length { (TYPE*)a } {
    len $a
}

p7proc (TYPE*)concatenate { (TYPE*)a (TYPE*)b } {
    set (int)alen [len $a]
    set (int)blen [len $b]
    set (int)sum ($alen+$blen)
    new (TYPE*)z $sum
    set (int)i

    for {set i 0} ($i<$alen) {incr i} {
	set z($i) $a($i)
    }
    for {set i 0} ($i<$blen) {incr i} {
	set z($alen+$i) $b($i)
    }
    set z
}


p7proc (TYPE*)to_lowercase { (TYPE*)x } {
    for {set (int)i 0} ($i< [len $x] ) {incr i} {
	if ( 'A' <= $x($i) && $x($i) <= 'Z' ) {
	    set x($i) ($x($i) - 'A' + 'a')
	}
    }
    set x
}
p7proc (TYPE*)to_uppercase { (TYPE*)x } {
    for {set (int)i 0} ($i< [len $x] ) {incr i} {
	if ( 'a' <= $x($i) && $x($i) <= 'z' ) {
	    set x($i) ($x($i) - 'a' + 'A')
	}
    }
    set x
}