Well, if you don't use symbolic references then you're immune from the perils of symbolic references... your point, I think, was that using a complex structure, e.g. a HoA is not much advantageous over symrefs. Indeed the risk in connection with typos is exactly the same, but with what isn't it? And the problem with symrefs is that you're still manipulating package variable, whereas a hash can be a lexical one which often is better suited for whatever use one has in mind...