What does `new $cur->{LINK}' do? (Assume the current package has no new() function of its own.)
$cur->new()->{LINK}
The indirect object syntax only has a single token lookahead. That means if new() is a method, it only grabs the very next token, not the entire following expression.
This is why `new $obj[23] arg' does't work, as well as why `print $fh[23] "stuff\n"' does't work. Mixing notations between the OO and IO notations is perilous. If you always use arrow syntax for method calls, and nothing else, you'll not be surprised.

How do I sort a hash by the hash value?
Here's a program that prints the contents
of the grades hash, sorted numerically by the hash value:

#!/usr/bin/perl -w

# Help sort a hash by the hash 'value', not the 'key'.
to highest).
sub hashValueAscendingNum {
$grades{$a} <=> $grades{$b};
}



# Help sort a hash by the hash 'value', not the 'key'.
# Values are returned in descending numeric order
# (highest to lowest).
sub hashValueDescendingNum {
$grades{$b} <=> $grades{$a};
}


%grades = (
student1 => 90,
student2 => 75,
student3 => 96,
student4 => 55,
student5 => 76,
);

print "\n\tGRADES IN ASCENDING NUMERIC ORDER:\n";
foreach $key (sort hashValueAscendingNum (keys(%grades))) {
print "\t\t$grades{$key} \t\t $key\n";
}

print "\n\tGRADES IN DESCENDING NUMERIC ORDER:\n";
foreach $key (sort hashValueDescendingNum (keys(%grades))) {
print "\t\t$grades{$key} \t\t $key\n";
}