I think of an @array as just syntactic sugar for an $a_ref = \@array.

They are not two different data types, just two sides of the same coin.

Without @sigil and %sigil many context mechanics wouldn't work.

Edit

Concerning repeated arrows ...

Perl is very special among other scripting languages in requiring explicit dereferencing. (this might be a C thing, I'm not sure)

How would you explain to someone coming from JS, Python or Ruby that he not only needs one -> but a bunch full for every level?

Cheers Rolf
(addicted to the Perl Programming Language :)
Wikisyntax for the Monastery

In reply to Re^5: Having trouble reading in a hash from a referenced array by LanX
in thread Having trouble reading in a hash from a referenced array by SergioQ

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