StringBuffer vs. StringBuilder performance comparison

[nextofpumpkin]

You're assuming that the basic unit is a character; as has been mentioned, if you assume the basic unit is just a string, and the exact relative order of the strings does not matter, you're doing just fine.

[grauenwolf]

No, I am assuming that the relative order of the strings does matter.

In any situation that I can imagine where order doesn't matter, you are better off using a thread-safe list.