Why the following code does not work :

use Devel::Pointer;

my %hash;
$hash{1} = 2;

my $code = &create(\%hash);
print "CODE : ".$code."\n";

my $ref = &extract($code);
print "REF : ".$ref."\n";

sub create {
    my $self = shift;
    return(address_of($self));
}
sub extract {
    my $self = shift;
    return(deref($self));
}
[download]

Another question is why each time I use the address_of method the return value is different for the same reference. Is there a way to decode this value so I can use it as an hash key ?

Originally posted as a Categorized Question.