[racket] Looking for guidelines regarding paths...

What are some guidelines about use of paths?
Am I correct in thinking the following is a path:
#<path:/home/don/.plt-scheme/4.2.1/collects/DG/append2.ss>

Should I specify paths, such as above, rather than strings such as:
"/home/don/.plt-scheme/4.2.1/collects/DG/append2.ss"

(I notice that many Racket path functions convert my strings to paths. I
want to minimize or better yet, eliminate, converstions between strings and
paths. Is this a good idea?)

Maybe I need to understand why Racket is using the path form instead of the
string form. (Can you explain briefly why the string data type was not
sufficient so the path data type was developed.

Can you provide any comments about my following thoughts about relative vs.
absolute paths.
For simplicity sake, I think I should initially work wtih absolute
(complete) paths only.  Then as I encounter the need to share files, or
compile files, then at that point I need to make use of relative paths &
building of paths.  Handling paths from within one module is not difficult,
however, I seem to encounter problems  when I create other modules that
'require'/refer to other modules that specify or build paths.

If I need to use relative paths right away, then I understand that I use
the build-path function to concatonate a path prefix with a path suffix
(the suffix being a relative path).
Thanks.
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