In Common Lisp: (setf h (make-hash-table)) (setf (gethash 'foo h) "hi") ;; -> "hi" (gethash 'foo h) ;; -> "hi" (gethash 'bar h "bye") ;; -> "by

In Common Lisp: (setf h (make-hash-table)) (setf (gethash 'foo h) "hi") ;; -> "hi" (gethash 'foo h) ;; -> "hi" (gethash 'bar h "bye") ;; -> "bye" That's not too bad. Not quite as perfect as bracket-based dereferencing, but I can live with it.