The answer to the first section of code is rather simple. The string 'Apple' is being used as a reference. If you compile it under "use strict 'refs'" (or just "use strict"), you'll see what I'm talking about.

Now, as to how using a string as a reference works ... I'm a little fuzzier on that. But, I do like using it, in very controlled doses. :)

Now, as to the second question ... I did a little further playing around and found that so long as the assignment of Apple never happened before the assignment of Red, for that given hash, neither hash correctly printed "Red Apple".

<speculation>
I'm going to guess that the moment the interpreter sees that the string 'Apple' can be made into a reference, it marks 'Apple' as a valid reference for everyone. Why it affects the hash seemingly defined before it? Because, the interpreter, in its first pass, will find all the possible references and remember those. Then, in the second pass, it will use those references it knows about.
</speculation>

Nifty theoretical problem!

In reply to Re: HoH Weirdness by dragonchild
in thread HoH Weirdness by Davious

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.