I would see this in a more positive light, perhaps, if prototypes were more required for all functions, particularly if they offered named formal parameters. In those circumstances, prototypes would offer great benefits of clarity, since one could always refer to the signature of any function to see whether the argument should be taken by value or reference. The random application of prototypes to allow inconsistent calling syntax does not seem to me to add any clarity.
No, but there-in lies the true power and true nightmare that is Perl.
However, it is better to go with your training and experience and simply write Perl code according to your own/company guidelines so that if you need to look back (or if someone else needs to look back for you) you will know why things were written that way in the first place.
Even Larry Wall has stated "Do I really need ten ways to do something?"
Functionality and Clarity are more important over Compactness and Speed. I mean what good is a piece of code to find words with "even sets"[1] of vowels if no one else understands or can maintain it.
Perl already has a bad history of being WRITE-ONLY; lets see if we can all make it re-usable?
-Bill- __Sx__________________________________________ http://youve-reached-the.endoftheinternet.org/
[1] 'even' would match as it has 2 e's...
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