Now: Declaration Explicit Implicit $_ $?SELF has $.var | $obj.var \ .var \ ./var \ has $:var | $obj.:var \ .:var \ ./:var \
Consistent: has $.var \ $obj.var \ .var \ ./var \ has $.:var \ $obj.:var \ .:var \ ./:var \ See it yet? It's about consistency in the whole scheme, not the clarity of a single element. (I wouldn't mind if $:var was a shortcut syntax for $.:var, although we will regret this when we think of an even better purpose for the colon as a sigil.) Note that it's not *implicit* $?SELF. "./" is a prefix operator that calls a method on $?SELF, not an infix operator that when prefixly used defaults to something. "./" is not like ".+" and friends. It cannot be used infix, it does not default to anything. Read the two characters as one. Juerd -- http://convolution.nl/maak_juerd_blij.html http://convolution.nl/make_juerd_happy.html http://convolution.nl/gajigu_juerd_n.html