for completeness this kind of aliasing to hash elements works, even if the hash itself is a lexical variable.

  DB<121> $self->{a} = [1..3]
 => [1, 2, 3]

  DB<122> *a = $self->{a}

  DB<123> @a
 => (1, 2, 3)

  DB<124> @a=6..8
 => (6, 7, 8)

  DB<125> $self->{a}
 => [6, 7, 8]
[download]

so if you only store references in your objects hash (including scalar refs) then you can return them from a value() sub.

be sure to localize the global aliases you'll use then.

our ($datum,@datum,%datum);         # chose whatever you want
local *datum= value("datum");
[download]