From: Piers Cawley [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Garrett Goebel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > > > $idx_of_foo = $queue['foo']; # named lookup > > $nth_foo = $queue[600]; # ordered lookup > > > > One is SvPOK the other SvIOK... > > > > Can't we handle both and still have the ordered lookup be fast? [...] > YOU CAN'T USE THE TYPE OF THE 'INDEX' OBJECT TO DETERMINE > WHETHER YOU'RE DOING A HASHLIKE OR AN ARRAYLIKE LOOKUP. As > Dan pointed out ages ago.
Got it. Conflating indexed and named lookups (creating a syntactic homonym), isn't desirable or reasonably feasible. If we went down that route, it'd wind up being more confusing, self-limiting, breed complexity in a response to resolve the over-simplification, and drag down performance. Or probably better left at "not desirable". Or for the extremely thick: GOOD: Separate syntax for indexed vs. named lookups BAD: Same syntax with >= 2 contextual meanings Apologies for revisiting the graveyard of bad ideas and contributing negatively to the signal to noise ratio. I too have great difficulty in keeping up with the list. For the most part, I tend to read the replies of the more enlightened to others' questions, comments, and proposals. How Damian, our most prolific, found the time to sift through so much I don't know. <out-of-place-rant> I'm disappointed that The Perl Foundation (TPF) has been so quiet and unresponsive on support for our core language designers and architects. I dropped a note to all the TPF contacts over a week ago, and have yet to receive a reply. It is a sad state of affairs when a language as prevalent as Perl and with such a strong sense of community can be so disorganized and lacking when it comes to financial sustenance. </out-of-place-rant>
