On 9/25/05, Juerd <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Whenever possible, object should have useful numeric and string > representations. These are generally lossy, but this is not a problem, because > a scalar stays a scalar even after being used in a certain context, and the > object isn't lost.
Sounds good. Let me summarize what I've gleaned so far, in the context of what I was looking for: Presentation: $object.as(Str, ...) where ... is a format string; perhaps an sprintf format, or something else. Localization occurs here. Formatting occurs here. Timezone/newline-convention/join-character-specification/whatever happens here Representation: ~$object eq $object.as(Str) eq DWIMiest string Presentation Serialization: my Thingy $obj.=thaw($object.freeze) Interpolation: "foo $object" eq "foo " ~ ~$object This makes sense, and I can accept it. I still think the proposed Representation behavior should really be the Interpolation behavior, and Representation should be a lossless but readable version of Serialization, though I'm clearly wrong, since I can't defend it. No worries. I'll come around to see the light. Someday. :) Ashley Winters