Can this not be handled in a nicer way by the compiler? What if the compiler tried to allocate the lists in chunks? For example when dealing with strings, why cant the compiler allocate the string as a fixed length unit, terminated with a link to the next unit. (IE allow the atoms in the list to be variable size). In this way functions which return blocks of data (for example reading a file in 8k buffers) can be treated just like reading a normal list. This would not only save memory, but would make IO more efficient, whilst retaining a Haskell-like style of coding. Keean.