Perl references (like the Perl language itself) are higher level than
their C counterparts.  Pointers expose the memory address wheres
references (to my knowledge and at least not normally) do not.  This
opens the door to pointer arithmetic and some of the black magic
possible with pointers (including the kind that can wreak havoc on your
system).  Perl takes memory management largely out of the hands of the
developer (and provides a more contained environment) in which things
like automatic vivification are essentially necessary (or at least a
painless solution that fits into the Perl MO).   It essentially provides
an additional layer between things like references and the perl instance
which is handling them.
>
> P.S. Other than the fact that your grammar can you a bit of fixing, your
> email did help me as far as teaching me that Perl does something called
> "autovivifying" with pointers

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