diff --git a/sjsonnet/src/sjsonnet/ArrayOps.scala b/sjsonnet/src/sjsonnet/ArrayOps.scala
deleted file mode 100644
index ae4533e7..00000000
--- a/sjsonnet/src/sjsonnet/ArrayOps.scala
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,24 +0,0 @@
-package sjsonnet
-
-import scala.collection.mutable
-import scala.reflect.ClassTag
-
-/** Array operations which are missing in Scala 2.12 */
-object ArrayOps {
-  def distinctBy[A <: AnyRef : ClassTag, B](xs: Array[A])(f: A => B): Array[A] = {
-    val seen = new mutable.HashSet[B]
-    val b = new mutable.ArrayBuilder.ofRef[A]()
-    var i = 0
-    while(i < xs.length) {
-      val x = xs(i)
-      if(seen.add(f(x))) b.+=(x)
-      i += 1
-    }
-    b.result()
-  }
-
-  def sortInPlaceBy[A <: AnyRef, B](xs: Array[A])(f: A => B)(implicit ord: Ordering[B]): xs.type = {
-    java.util.Arrays.sort(xs, 0, xs.length, ord on f)
-    xs
-  }
-}
diff --git a/sjsonnet/src/sjsonnet/StaticOptimizer.scala b/sjsonnet/src/sjsonnet/StaticOptimizer.scala
index 694ef7fb..e90803f0 100644
--- a/sjsonnet/src/sjsonnet/StaticOptimizer.scala
+++ b/sjsonnet/src/sjsonnet/StaticOptimizer.scala
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ class StaticOptimizer(
       scope.get(name) match {
         case ScopedVal(v: Val with Expr, _, _) => v
         case ScopedVal(_, _, idx) => ValidId(pos, name, idx)
+        case null if name == "$std" => std
         case null if name == "std" => std
         case _ => failOrWarn("Unknown variable: "+name, e)
       }
diff --git a/sjsonnet/src/sjsonnet/Std.scala b/sjsonnet/src/sjsonnet/Std.scala
index caa3fb84..99749ec3 100644
--- a/sjsonnet/src/sjsonnet/Std.scala
+++ b/sjsonnet/src/sjsonnet/Std.scala
@@ -1503,6 +1503,9 @@ class Std(private val additionalNativeFunctions: Map[String, Val.Builtin] = Map.
     builtin("trim", "str") { (_, _, str: String) =>
       trailingWhiteSpacePattern.matcher(leadingWhiteSpacePattern.matcher(str).replaceAll("")).replaceAll("")
     },
+    builtin("equals", "a", "b") { (_, ev, a: Val, b: Val) =>
+      ev.equal(a, b)
+    },
     builtin("equalsIgnoreCase", "str1", "str2") { (_, _, str1: String, str2: String) =>
       str1.equalsIgnoreCase(str2)
     },