> my Date $date .= new('June 25, 2002'); If we're assuming that C<my Date $date> creates an C<undef but isa(Date)> object, then that object should be able to overload its assignment operator. I don't know what the perl6 syntax will be, but something along the lines of
class Date { method operator= ($value is rx/<std_date>/) { unless (defined $self) { $self = .new() } $.year = $value{year}; $.month = $value{month}; # etc. } }; should cover it, assuming it is "valid" style for a variable to act as a value rather than an object-reference. Dave.