1. need to store some metadata other than the child nodes, or
2. want to overload @{},

package TreeNode;

use strict;

# new TreeNode()
# new TreeNode( list of nodes )
sub new {
    my $caller = shift;
    my $class = ref($caller) || $caller;

    my $self  = [];

    bless ($self, $class);

    $self->AddNode(@_) if @_;
    
    return $self;
}

# $obj->AddNode()
#                Creates a new TreeNode object, adds it to the tree, a
+nd returns said object.
# $obj->AddNode(another node[, still another node, ...])
#                Adds one or more existing TreeNode objects to the tre
+e.

sub AddNode {
    my $self = shift;
    
    @_ = $self->new unless @_;
    
    push @$self, @_;
    
    $_[0];        # return the first object added (so that AddNode() w
+ith no args returns the new node)

}

1;  # so the require or use succeeds
[download]

$"=$,,$_=q>|\p4<6 8p<M/_|<('=>
.q>.<4-KI<l|2$<6%s!<qn#F<>;$,
.=pack'N*',"@{[unpack'C*',$_]
}"for split/</;$_=$,,y[A-Z a-z]
         {}cd;print lc
[download]