THIS IS VERY VERY DRAFTY (so lots of bugs flew in)

Package-like things (they are namespaces)

    [todo - rationalize when to say "namespace" vs "package"]

Kinds of packages:

    Structure       Adds
    -------------------------------------------------------------
    Package         namespace, traits, autoload
    +- Module       export/import, version
       +- Role      methods, attributes, inheritance, parameterized
       +- Class     methods, attributes, composition, instantiation
          +- Enum   weird methods

Name and duration:

     Syntax          Name          Name visibility   Duration
     --------------------------------------------------------------------------
         package P   top-level     global            until exit or deletion
      my package P   top-level     lexical           dynamic?
     our package P   relative to   same as           same as current package (?)
         package     anonymous     n/a               dynamic

Scope of declaration

    ... package P; ...    # to end of enclosing scope
    ... package P {...}   # block scope
    ... package   {...}   # block scope

    Same for modules, classes, roles?, enums?, subtypes?
    But grammars and rules have a separate system.

Names

    Names are hierarchical, like filesystem path names.
    They start with :: . The separator is also :: .  Just like / in unix.
    Strings can be interpolated into names by ($expr) , but must begin and end
    at separator boundaries.

Special namespaces

    ::*        global (root)
    ::MY       current lexical
    ::CALLER   a view of the caller's namespace
    ::*::Main  the user default

A name N can be used:

    N              by itself
    %N::           as a hash (symbol table)
    $N @N %N &N    to name variables

    The beginning of a name can be abbreviated, to make short names even 
    simpler.

    Example   Shorter   Rule
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    %::A      %A        Starting :: can be dropped if not at the word beginning
    ::*::A    ::*A      Root doesn't need a separator
    ::A       A         Declared name doesn't need the starting ::
    ::*A      *A        Root's starting :: can be dropped where there is no
                        confusion with unary * (such as declarations).

    There are a bunch of examples below.

    A single hierarchy is shared by modules, classes, roles, enums, and
    subtypes. [yes?]

    Grammars and rules use the same separator, but otherwise have a
    separate system.

    Relative package names are searched for
    - from inner lexical scopes to outer, then
    - from inner packages to outer, then
    - in the global namespace.

    [this deserves elaboration]

Autoloading

    The presense of names in a namespace can be faked.  Or implemented
    lazily.  If a user inquires about (defined(...)), or tries to use a
    variable, which is not in the symbol table, hooks are called.

    For SCALAR ARRAY HASH SUB METH ...:

    AUTO...    predicates test the existance of a variable,
                 returning undef or _any_ ref of the right type.
    AUTO...DEF accessors actually fetch the requested variable.

    [Can a package or role AUTOMETH?]

Binding

    := ::=  # todo

Examples

    ::A               namespace name, relative
    ::A::B
    ::A::B::C
    ::*               namespace name, absolute (::* is root)
    ::*A                (root doesn't need a separator)
    ::*A::B
    ::*A::B::C
    %A::              namespace as hash; relative name
    %A::B::
    %*::              namespace as hash; absolute name
    %*A::
    %*A::B::
    %x                variable name, lexical   ("%" could be any sigil $@%& etc)
    %A::x             variable name, relative  ("%" could be any sigil $@%& etc)
    %A::B::x                                   ("%" could be any sigil $@%& etc)
    %*x               variable name, absolute  ("%" could be any sigil $@%& etc)
    %*A::x                                     ("%" could be any sigil $@%& etc)
    %*A::B::x                                  ("%" could be any sigil $@%& etc)

Abbreviations used

    ::*::A            ::*A    # root doesn't need a separator
    %::A::            %A::    # leading :: is only needed if it starts the word
                              # ::A::B could NOT be abbreviated A::B (??)
    %::A::x           %A::x
    %::*::x           %*x     # using both
    %::*::A::         %*A::
     
Notable namespaces

    ::MY              # current lexical namespace
    %MY::             # \__ as hash
    %MY::x            # \__ a variable in        ("%" could be any sigil $@%& etc)
    ::*Main           # default user namespace
    %*Main::          # \__ as hash
    %*Main::x         # \__ a variable in        ("%" could be any sigil $@%& etc)
     
Runtime interpolation:

    ::("A")           ::A
    ::("A::B")        ::A::B
    ::("A::")B        # ILLEGAL
    ::("A")::B        ::A::B
    ::A::("B")        ::A::B
    ::A::("B")::C     ::A::B::C
    ::("*")           ::*
    ::("*A")          ::*A
    ::("*::A")        ::*A
    %::("A")::        %A::
    %::("A::")        # ILLEGAL
    %::("A::x")       %A::x                    ("%" could be any sigil $@%& etc)
    ::($expr)         a namespace name
    ::($e1)::($e2)    a namespace name
    %::($expr)::      a namespace used as a hash
    %::($expr)        a variable name          ("%" could be any sigil $@%& etc)
    
Using a namespace hash (a symbol table):

    %P::        # namespace P as a hash (a symbol table)
    %P::<$s>    # lookup $s
    %P::<@a>    # lookup @a
    %P::{'$s'}  # lookup $s again, just quoted differently.
    %P::{$sym}  # lookup some symbol specified at runtime