use warnings;
use strict;
use Time::HiRes qw/time/;

my $common = join "","a".."z";

my @x = map { $common . rand 1 } 1..1e6;
my (@a,$a,$b,$start);

print "\n--- with full sort\n";
@a=@x;

$start=time();
my @b= sort @a;

print $b[0],"\n",$b[-1],"\n";
print time -$start,"\n";


print "\n--- with triple sort\n";
@a=@x;

$start=time();
$a= shift @a;
$b= shift @a;



($a,undef,$b) = sort($a,$_,$b) for  @a;


print $a,"\n",$b,"\n";
print time -$start,"\n";

print "\n--- with assignment\n";
@a=@x;
$start=time();
$a= shift @a;
$b= shift @a;

for my $x (@a) {
    $a = ($x,$x,$a)[$a cmp $x];
    #next if $a eq $x;
    $b = ($x,$b,$x)[$b cmp $x];
}

print $a,"\n",$b,"\n";
print time -$start,"\n";


print "\n--- with goto\n";

@a=@x;

$start=time();

$a= shift @a;
$b= shift @a;

for my $x (@a) {
    goto ("NEXT", "NEWMIN", "MAYBEMAX")[$a cmp $x];
  NEWMIN:
    $a=$x;
    next;
  MAYBEMAX:
    goto ("NEXT", "NEXT",   "NEWMAX"  )[$b cmp $x];
  NEWMAX:
    $b=$x;
  NEXT:
}

print $a,"\n",$b,"\n";
print time -$start,"\n";

##</code><code>##

--- with full sort
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0.000100396248079448
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz9.99150346814304e-06
7.66956496238708

--- with triple sort
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0.000100396248079448
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz9.99150346814304e-06
5.88848209381104

--- with assignment
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0.000100396248079448
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz9.99150346814304e-06
1.2906858921051

--- with goto
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0.000100396248079448
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz9.99150346814304e-06
2.99558115005493

##</code><code>##

print "\n--- with le/ge\n";
@a=@x;
$start=time();
$a= shift @a;
$b= shift @a;

for my $x (@a) {
    $a = $x  if  $a ge $x;
    $b = $x  if  $b le $x;
}

print $a,"\n",$b,"\n";
print time -$start,"\n";
__END__
--- with le/ge
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0.000100420329498974
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz9.95282924378671e-05
0.773550033569336