Are string theory and the theory of everything the same?

a TOE (theory of everything) would be a theory that would explain why there is the universe there is, with the particles there are, and the forces (gravitation, strong nuclear, weak nuclear, electro-magnetic) there are. This without having to make any assumptions, or using any factors, constants, etc.

We are VERY far from that. We have a theory of gravitation on the large scale but nothing for the quantum (small) scale. We have a theory for the electro-magnetic, and for the weak nuclear forces (they are actually the same force), but it does not fit, is not integrated with that of gravitation. Ditto for the strong nuclear force. We have various tentative models (rather than theories) that try to fit the observed elementary particles - they all fail in some respects, and all of them need various constants, assumptions, etc.

And as if those incomplete were not enough, none of them includes anything about why all this is here in the first place.

String theory, or superstring theory, is an attempt to get to a TOE, starting with the assumption that, at some fundamental very very small scale, everything really would be made of very long and very thin (much smaller than, say, the size of an electron) strings in some hypothetical 11 or higher-dimensional space. They require fairly complex math. None of the string theories so far has led to any forecasts (such as "there should be a proton, it should have a mass of x, and an electrical charge of y") that could then be compared to nature.

But a theory that can never be tested cannot really be a physical theory. Because of this, many physicists outside the field look at string theory as an interesting mathematical or even philosophical exercice, but not something that has to do with physics. And many theoretical physicists who had enthusiastically embraced the field, have left it when years of work still failed to produce any measurable prediction.

This is quite in contrast with, for example, Einstein's General Relativity: it predicted that light would be affected by mass. And this was eventually measured.

hope this helps

No, string theory is a possible model for the theory of everything but at present the theory of everything does not exist yet. Its a hypothetical theory that will unite all the four forces in nature - the strong nuclear force, the weak nuclear force, the electromagnetic force, and gravity and relieve the discrepancies that exist between quantum mechanics and relativity. String theory is a theory which attempts to do this.

What do you mean by a theory of everything?

String theory attempts to link two tiny subsets of science - quantum theory and general realtivity. It is more or less useless, say, in medical science. Or ecology. Or chemistry even. So far from being a theory of everything it is actually a theory of very little whatsoever.

No, they do no longer look to be. the thought of each and every thing is there just to unite the 4 underlying forces of the universe: Electromagnetism, Gravity, reliable and vulnerable tension into one single "unit".

It is supposed to be the same but I don't know where they are with it at this time. I don't think they are there yet.