I was reading some older posts today (having come to PM only recently) and came across this snippet from Jeffa: 

use strict;

my $array = new list qw(foo bar);
my $list  = new list qw(baz qux);

$array += $list;

print "@$array\n";

package list;

use overload "+=" => sub { push @{$_[0]},@{$_[1]};$_[0] };

sub new { 
   my $class = shift;
   my $self = [@_];
   return bless $self, $class;
}

[download]

Where he redefined += to mean combine arrays. Now, my question is as follows:

Can I use the same type of programming to change my method calls from object->method() to object.method() ?

Honestly, I'm sure its not bright to do so for reasons of other people maintaining my code ... but it would make *me* happier when I work on purely personal projects.

And of course I could switch the -> to mean concatinate, which in some ways makes sense ....

I don't need to see code samples of 'how to' or anything ... cause I'd rather puzzle it out myself ;-) ... but I'm wondering if its even possible, and if it is, what issues should I be aware of? (Other then non-standard syntax that could mess up other people).

Thank you kind monks for your wisdom, opinions, or bashing. :-)

-Erik

In reply to Overloading operators: -> to . by theAcolyte

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