http://www.perlmonks.org?node_id=722122


in reply to Problem with string as HASH ref while strict refs in use

you have something like 

package Cats;
sub new { bless {}, shift } # generic constructor ;)
sub purring { $self = shift; $self->{key} = "foos" };

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what's happening is that you are calling that method on the package, instead of on an instance of a class... 

my $self = Cats->new;
$self->pruring; # will set the key, since $_[0] is $self
Cats->purring;  # will treat the invocant ("Cats") as a hashref, since
+ $_[0] is the package name

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perlboot has more. (and yes, It is deliberate that i didn't write it in terms of your code ;)

@_=qw; ask f00li5h to appear and remain for a moment of pretend better than a lifetime;;s;;@_[map hex,split'',B204316D8C2A4516DE];;y/05/os/&print;

In Section Seekers of Perl Wisdom