def joins(*parts, sep=' '):
    """Join a sequence as a string with given separator.

    This is a shortcut function that saves you the effort of converting
    each element in a str.join(sequence) call to a str first.

    :param sequence parts: A sequence of items to join
    :param str sep: The separator to join them with
    :returns str: The newly joined string

    """
    if not parts or not any(parts):
        return ''
    return sep.join(map(str, parts))
