#!/usr/bin/perl -w

use Benchmark;

my @array;
for (0..1000) {
  $array[$_] = rand(1000);
}

timethese(200, {
		 'ref'       => sub {
		   my @unsorted = @array;
		   my $return_ref = sort_array_ref(\@unsorted);
		 },
		 'old skool' => sub {
		   my @unsorted = @array;
		   my @return_array = sort_array(@unsorted);
		 },
		});

sub sort_array_ref {
  my $array_ref = shift;
  my @sorted_array = sort @{$array_ref};
  return \@sorted_array;
}

sub sort_array {
  my @array = @_;
  my @sorted_array = sort @array;
  return @sorted_array;
}

__END__
Benchmark: timing 200 iterations of old skool, ref...
 old skool:  6 wallclock secs ( 5.81 usr +  0.01 sys =  5.82 CPU) @ 34.36/s (n=200)
       ref:  6 wallclock secs ( 5.07 usr +  0.01 sys =  5.08 CPU) @ 39.37/s (n=200)