I came up with a similar, and arguably neater implementation:

sub sum{ ( shift()//return 0 ) + &sum }

print sum( 1,2,3);;
6

print sum( 1 .. 100 );;
Deep recursion on subroutine "main::sum" at
5050
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but rejected it because 'sum' is a (glob) variable.

In theory, it is possible to avoid the naming of the sub, thereby achieving "anonymous recursion", by using the Y-combinator. And the Y-combinator has been achieved in Perl by a former regular here.

Putting it together you get:

print Y( sub{my$rec=shift; sub{(shift()//return 0) + &$rec }})->(1 .. 
+100);;
5050
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But whilst that achieves the Y-combinators goal of recursion without adding the sub to the permanent namespace, it still requires the naming of the pesky closure $rec.

And of course, requires you to add the Y-combinator to the permanent namespace first:

sub Y {
    my ( $curried_rec ) = @_;
    sub {
        my ( $f1 ) = @_;
        $curried_rec->( sub { $f1->( $f1 )->( @_ ) } )
    }->( sub {
        my ( $f2 ) = @_;
        $curried_rec->( sub { $f2->( $f2 )->( @_ ) } )
    } )
}
[download]

And that's already more obfuscation as I want to wrap my brain around, even in an obfuscation section post!

My final thought is that the simplest mechanism that fits the OPs breif is just:

C:\test>perl -Mstrict -wE"say eval join'+',()"


C:\test>perl -Mstrict -wE"say eval join'+',0"
0

C:\test>perl -Mstrict -wE"say eval join'+',-1"
-1

C:\test>perl -Mstrict -wE"say eval join'+',-1..+3"
5
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Nice! But print eval join "+", ("1e", 6) yields 1000000, whereas my aforementioned solution: print sub {eval 'pop(@_)+' x ($#_ + 1) . '0';}->("1e", 6); prints the expected result, 7. Ok, ok, I'm quibbling.

Ok, ok, I'm quibbling.

Then add a couple of extra spaces :)

say eval join' + ','1e',6;
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---

Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.

"Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority".

In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.

Great! There was once a YAPC auction selling off a built-in name in a future perl, at the buyer's choice. IIRC it has never actualized, but now I wish it was Y )

Whilst Aristotle's Y() combinator is very clever, the requirement to assign the coderef to a local variable complicates the using code.

If something along these lines were to be built-in, I'd like to simplify it so that you could write:

print sub{ ( shift() // return ) + &$^SUB }->( 1 .. 10 );
[download]

---

Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.

"Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority".

In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.