Actually, using Perl::Critic doesn't help you to improves one style. It will however help you mimic the style of the people in charge of Perl::Critic.

... Who more or less mimic the style suggested by Damian Conway. Since i started using Perl::Critic, i get from an idea to working bugless code faster. Everyone is free not to use it.

I loathe this kind of advice. You give two alternatives to a line, without any explanation of why any of the alternatives are better. I certainly don't see any problem with the first line than any of the alternatives solves.

Writing my ($self) = @_ is not wrong, but it may mean that the coder - who admits to being a novice - is not sure that he knows what it means. I am showing other ways to pass args, TMTOWTDI.

You may loathe it, but i hope that it encourages people to read documentation. Maybe i'm wrong.