in reply to Re^6: the annoying keys "key" and "value"
in thread the annoying keys "key" and "value"

If it's pathalogical, what would be nonpathological? 

$param->{'key'}          # { key => $key, value => $value }

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is slightly clearer than 

$param->[0]              # [ $key, $value ]

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and much more clearer than 

(keys(%$param))[0]       # { $key => $value }

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Update: I missed this:

The non-pathological representation would have: $hash{$key}=[$value1, $value2, $value3,...]

But it's not true. That doesn't maintain order, so the question remains. What would be nonpathological?

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Re^8: the annoying keys "key" and "value"
by jabowery (Beadle) on Dec 23, 2010 at 23:38 UTC
    "That doesn't maintain order"

    The array has the order.

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      Really? Please recreate the original from 
      {
   a=>[1,3,5],
   b=>[2,4,6],
}

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      If you answered the following, you would be wrong. 

      a=>1
a=>3
a=>5
b=>2
b=>4
b=>6

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      As far as you know, the original order was 

      b=>2
b=>4
a=>1
b=>6
a=>3
a=>5

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        First of all, it doesn't make sense to use a hash when you are encoding order for obvious reasons. Secondly, the notation you've chosen conflates markup with Perl hashes so let me clarify your challenge:

        Original: 

        <b>2</b>
<b>4</b>
<a>1</a>
<b>6</b>
<a>3</a>
<a>5</a>

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        The proper Perl structure for which would be: 
        [{b=>2},{b=>4},{a=>1},{b=>6},{a=>3},{a=>5}]

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