Is there a memory-efficient replacement of java.lang.String?

Question

After reading this old article measuring the memory consumption of several object types, I was amazed to see how much memory Strings use in Java:

Answer 1

I think you should be very cautious about basing any ideas and/or assumptions off of a javaworld.com article from 2002. There have been many, many changes to the compiler and JVM in the six years since then. At the very least, test your hypothesis and solution against a modern JVM first to make sure that the solution is even worth the effort.