The way I pitch prototypes is that they are for checking references are the correct type, or for setting context - not for what you are trying to do. You are right to say that Perl does not achieve with prototypes what, say, a C programmer would expect (many C programmers don't understand C prototypes either, but that's another discussion). Very few people find a use for Perl 5 prototypes as they stand. Is it worth changing Perl 5 to support them in this way? After all, Rakudo Star is out next spring, and all this will be fixed and sweet (ish).