The key idea

        package Critter;
        use fields qw(NAME TYPE size hearts likes_cookies 
                      ...
                      pelagic tentacles is_tasty 
                      ...
                      );

        my Critter $self;

When Perl compiles $self->{TYPE}
it can pretend you wrote $self->[2]

• You would get the readability of a hash object...

• ... with the speed and size of an array

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