Re: RFC 132 (v1) subroutines should be able to return an lvalue

[Damian Conway]

   > > Besides, context can't always tell:
   > > 
   > >  bar ( foo );
   > > 
   > > Should foo return a copy or an alias?
   > 
   > want() obviously needs an additional parameter: how deep to go
   > back in the call stack.  Which begs also for a way to find out how
   > deep is the call stack.

That wouldn't help in this case, since it's a matter of whether the 
programmer intended to pass by copy or alias here, and that isn't encoded
*anywhere* on the call stack.

Damian