ORTHOGONALITY FAIL

class Foo extends String
{
    // This avoids a warning
    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
}

$ javac -Xlint:all Foo.java
Foo.java:1: cannot inherit from final java.lang.String
class Foo extends String
                  ^
1 error

I know what final classes are. I think they're the wrong solution to any problem, but I know what they are.

But what is the argument for making String a final class? And if the reason is "because String is special and the compiler knows about it and blah blah", it shouldn't be.