It's "just syntax" in that it over little more than a different name from the keyword 'package' - the only difference is that it comes with a trailing scope. So you can do: 
class FOO {
   BLOCK
}

[download]
instead of 
{
  package FOO;
  BLOCK
}

[download]
It won't even save you on keystrokes; 'class' can clash with an existing subroutine, so you'd need a 'use feature' to actually use it.

And "it's just syntax" means that there's no addition semantics in the BLOCK. Rafael said it would be more worthwhile if the BLOCK had additional properties; methods for instance (with compile time lookup, and not callable as subs).

In reply to Re^4: Five Features Perl 5 Needs Now by JavaFan
in thread Five Features Perl 5 Needs Now by Arunbear

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