> > Because some things have both, and do different things with each. > > Ok $0 is special. But isn't it _the_ special case? And strictly speaking, > its an ordered associative array right? It doesn't really need the full > range of expression offered by $0{...} and $0[...]. All it needs is $0[1] > for ordered lookups and $0["1"] for named lookups.
My favorite example of this sort of object is a row from a database. Each value has a name (the column name) and a position (from the order in which the columns were requested), so it would be nice to be able access it either way. ~ John Williams