in fact, this is exactly my point

I thought your point was that a scalar is a scalar is a scalar; a scalar that's a reference should still be thought of as a scalar. That's a notion I'll agree with, even though I don't have any problem with ref returning REF. The reason I say hash keys are a separate issue is because, I repeat, hash keys are not a scalar values, they are string values.

Hash keys accept only string values because it was a lowercase-p-perl design decision to make them string values.

I have no direct knowledge of why they chose to implement Perl's hashes using string values as keys, but I can easily see it as both an implementation choice and a language choice. Using arbitrary scalar values as hash keys adds complexity to both areas. With something as fundamental as hashes, I can easily understand the desire to keep it simple.

In reply to Re^9: ref eq "REF" by revdiablo
in thread ref == "REF" by gaal

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