Well, if you're feeling really sadistic baremodule MyWay ref(x::AbstractArray, i::Int) = Base.ref(x,i+1) ref(args...) = Base.ref(args...) end

Well, if you're feeling really sadistic baremodule MyWay ref(x::AbstractArray, i::Int) = Base.ref(x,i+1) ref(args...) = Base.ref(args...) end is not that far away (I'm oversimplifying a little, but not much). However, please don't do this as it breaks coherence within the community. I found 1-based indexes annoying at first, but have grown quite fond of them since.