My background is C, where the dot refers to an object attribute (or for non-OO folks, a structure element). Hmm. Let me explain better.

typedef struct foo
{
  int  iNumberOfHands;
  char *pszPlayerName;

} PLAYER, *PTR_PLAYER;

PLAYER astrScoundrels[];
PTR_PLAYER pstrThisPlayer;
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This code defines a structure in C with two elements, and also defines types for an instance of the structure (PLAYER) and a pointer to a structure (PTR_PLAYER).

The type definitions are used to created an array of players and a pointer to a player. After all that, you use pstrThisPlayer->iNumberOfHands to get to a structure element using a pointer, and astrPlayer[2].iNumberOfHands to get to the same structure element using the structure itself.

Currently in Perl (there, you knew it was coming eventually), we use the arrow to refer to an object's attributes or members like

$Query = new CGI;
$Value = $Query->param('foo');  #  method call
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In reality, $Query is an object and not a pointer to an object, so we should be using the dot syntax. Therefore, in Perl 6, we will be writing

$Query = new CGI;
$Value = $Query.param('foo');  #  method call
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This is what C used all along, so going to the dot syntax is more othogonal. Or better. :)

--t. alex

"Nyahhh (munch, munch) What's up, Doc?" --Bugs Bunny

ps Good question.