Well, you can implement a Perl peek() with unpack('P',...). Once you have that, there's only security through obscurity.
I think software patents are a bad idea. Many patents are given for trivial inventions.
All language designers are arrogant. Goes with the territory.
Wow, I'm being shot at from both sides. That means I *must* be right.
Save it for my unauthorized autobiography.
The purpose of most computer languages is to lengthen your resume by a word and a comma.