(use ncurses srfi-4 lolevel srfi-1)

(define (get-string max)
  (let ((buffer (make-u8vector max)))
    (getstr (make-locative buffer))
    (let ((bytes (take-while (lambda (byte) (not (zero? byte)))
                             (u8vector->list buffer))))
      (list->string (map integer->char bytes)))))

(let ((stdscr (initscr))
      (str (get-string 10)))
  (addstr str)
  (getch))

(use ncurses lolevel data-structures)

(define (get-string max)
  (let ((buffer (make-string max #\null)))
    (getnstr (make-locative buffer) max)
    (string-translate buffer #\null)))

(let ((stdscr (initscr))
      (str (get-string 10)))
  (addstr str)
  (getch)
  (write str))