#
# initialization 
#
$self->{'sock'} = IO::Socket::INET->new(
   args => 'go_here',
) || die "Cant create socket\nReason: $!\n";
#
#retrieval for use 
#
$sock = $obj->_get_sock();

sub _get_sock {
   return($_[0]->{'sock'});
}

##</code><code>##


$sock = IO::Socket::INET->new(
   args => 'go_here',
) || die "blah\n$!\n";

$sock_ref = \$sock;

some_func($sock_ref);

sub some_func {
   $ref = shift;
   $sock = ${$ref};

   $line = <$sock>;
}