[julia-users] Why does string('a') work but convert(ASCIIString,'a') does not?

[Ronald L. Rivest]

Using Julia 0.3.4.  The following seems somehow inconsistent.  Is there
something about the philosophy of `convert` I am missing??

*julia> convert(ASCIIString,'a')*

*ERROR: `convert` has no method matching convert(::Type{ASCIIString}, 
::Char)*

* in convert at base.jl:13*

*julia> string('a')*

*"a"*

*julia> typeof(ans)*

*ASCIIString (constructor with 2 methods)*

Cheers,

Ron