coercion

Symbol() + '' throws TypeError: Cannot convert a Symbol value to a string While a known workaround is to use String(Symbol()) . This looks inconsistent with other primitives, including the ones that should almost never be coerced ( undefined and null ). How exactly does String differ from + '' (except it works)? Do specs explicitly specify that String should accept symbols? What were the motives to allow it in one way and disallow it in another? How exactly does String differ from + '' (except it works)? Do specs explicitly specify that String should accept symbols? They differ in the aspect

I'm reading a JavaScript tutorial on implicit and explicit coercion. What happens in the background with respect to implicit coercion? var a = "42"; var b = a * 1; //this is implicitly coerced to 42 -- the number Does implicit coercion ALWAYS coerce to a number? What if we wanted to do something a per the below Python example. I'm getting confused because other languages such as Python would give you a result as per below. a = "3"; b = 9; print a * b; //This would print 333333333 -- the string I will leave this here for your convenience to draw some conclusions as far as implicit coercion goes

Currently have: package Local; use warnings; use Moose; use Method::Signatures::Simple; use Path::Class::File; use Path::Class::Dir; method _build_path_class { my $str = $self->pathstr; return Path::Class::Dir->new($str) if (-d $str); return Path::Class::File->new($str); } has 'pathstr' => (is => 'rw', isa => 'Str', required => 1); has 'path' => ( is => 'rw', lazy => 1, #isa => 'Path::Class::File|Path::Class::Dir', #this didn't work isa => 'Object', builder => '_build_path_class', ); no Moose; __PACKAGE__->meta->make_immutable(); 1; It is working, so my $d = Local->new(pathstr => '/tmp')->path