Aaron Sherman writes: : In this example: : : %hash = ($a=>$b); : : $a can be anything. In fact, since Perl6 promises to retain the original : value of $a, we're rather encouraged to store complex data there. But, : this poses a problem. The key to use for hashing might not ideally be : the string representation. : : For example, if I'm hashing a collection of special file objects, it : might be useful in one context to do: : : method operator:qq () { : return read_whole_file(); : } : : But, if I have 100 of these objects, and I try to put them in a hash, : life could get ugly fast! : : More helpful would be to have this builtin: : : method operator:hash () { : return operator:qq(); : } : : and then allow me to override it in my class like so: : : method operator:hash () { : return filename(); : } : : This allows me to specify separate hashing and stringification methods, : but retains Perl's original default of combining the two.
Yes, that's what we intend to do. Larry