I was just reading How to delete a file with a print statement, which mentions that the key in a hash is evaluated as code when the hash is interpoloated. I had the sudden inspiration that this might be a way to clean up (slightly) the ugliness of method interpolation.

For example, if you have an object $foo, and you want to print one of its attributes you can choose one of the following approaches:

my $attr = $foo->attr; 
print "Attribute is $attr\n";

print "Attribute is ". $foo->attr ."\n";

print "Attribute is @{[$foo->attr]}\n";
[download]

In my opinion all of these options leave somthing to be desired.

My inspiration was that, since a hash key is evaluated, why not just use a tied hash that does nothing but returns the key. So $foo{'a value' will return 'a value'. I'm not sure about the wisdom of this move, but it seems to make the syntax a little cleaner.

Any thoughts on whether this sort of thing is a good idea? Or, perhaps, retched and foolish?

use strict;
use warnings;

# Create a dummy class
use Class::Struct Foo => [ attr => '$' ]; 

# with a dummy method
sub Foo::Repeater {
    my $self = shift;
    my $times = shift || 1;

    return ($self->attr) x $times;  # Make sure x operates in list con
+text

}

# Create a dummy object
my $foo = Foo->new(attr => 'foo');

# Create my interpolater.
my %im;
tie %im, 'InterpolateMethods';

# Example: Concatenation.
print "The Foo object's attr attribute is: " . $foo->attr . "\n";

# Ugly inline
print "The Foo object's attr attribute is: @{[$foo->attr]}\n";

# Use the interpolater
print "The Foo object's attr attribute is: @im{ $foo->attr }\n";

# We can use the interpolater in list context as well.
print "Calling Foo's Repeater(3) method yeilds: @im{ $foo->Repeater(3)
+ }\n";



package InterpolateMethods;
use Tie::Hash;

sub TIEHASH {
    my $self = shift;
    my $mi = \$self;

    return bless $mi, $self;
}

sub FETCH {
    my $self = shift;
    my $key = shift;

    return $key;
}

1;

__END__

The Foo object's attr attribute is: foo
The Foo object's attr attribute is: foo
The Foo object's attr attribute is: foo
Calling Foo's Repeater(3) method yeilds: foo foo foo
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