Don't forget about the need for casting, which makes matters worse...

Well put.

This is what I was alluding to when I said this in passing:

Further, you'll need to write some String only hash classes for yourself or suffer interminable type contortions (these roads I have travelled).

You can usually get around constant casting by making some classes of your own that explicitly return String types, then all the casting happens in those classes. But it is still a pain.

Phil