c:\@Work\Perl\monks>perl -wMstrict -le
"use Data::Dump qw(pp);
 ;;
 my @ra = qw(a b c d);
 print 'A: ', pp \@ra;
 ;;
 my $hardref = [ @ra ];
 print 'B1: ', pp $hardref;
 pop @{$hardref};
 print 'B2: ', pp $hardref;
 print 'B3: ', pp \@ra;
 ;;
 $hardref = \@ra;
 pop @{$hardref};
 print 'C1: ', pp $hardref;
 print 'C2: ', pp \@ra;
"
A: ["a" .. "d"]
B1: ["a" .. "d"]
B2: ["a", "b", "c"]
B3: ["a" .. "d"]
C1: ["a", "b", "c"]
C2: ["a", "b", "c"]