Yes, but the a[i] syntax is still there. Remember, we are trying to prevent code alteration if we upgrade our collection engine(s). All those a[i] references are still floating around.

["add" in Smalltalk collections] This is not inconsistent. What would be inconsistent would be expecting an add method to do exactly the same action on a directory as it would to on an array. They are not the same things, and trying to force add to work the same on both would actually break the concept of OO.