I'm at a loss to see how this is preferable to:

Juerd has a node that demonstrated this nicely, but I cannnot find it right now. Compare:

$obj->bar++;

$obj->bar =~ s[a][b]g;

$obj->len++ while substr( $obj->bar, $obj->start, $obj->len ) =~ m[^\s
++$];
substr( $obj->bar, $obj->start, $obj->len, '');
$obj->len = 0;
[download]

with:

$obj->bar( $obj->$bar() + 1 );

my $temp = $obj->bar();
$temp =~ s[a][b]g;
$obj->bar( $temp );

my $temp2 = $obj->len;
my $temp3 = $obj->bar;
$temp2++ while substr( $temp3, $obj->start(), $temp2 ) =~ m[^\s+$];
substr $temp3, $obj->start, $temp2, '' );
$obj->bar( $temp2 );
$obj->len( $temp3 );
[download]

Another way of looking at it. Would you prefer doing math like this?

## $a++;
$a( $a() + 1 ); 

# $b *= $c-- $d++;
$b( $b() * $c( $c() - 1 ) % $d( $d() + 1 ) );
[download]