my @n; $n[$_{$_}] = $_ for map{$_{$_}++; $_} @list;

  print "Most frequent: $n[-1]";

##</code><code>##

sub most_frequent{ local *_=*_; $_[$_{$_}] = $_ for map{$_{$_}++; $_} @_; $_[-1]; }

##</code><code>##


#!/usr/bin/perl

use warnings;
use strict;
$|++;

use Statistics::Frequency;
use Benchmark qw( cmpthese );

my @data_small  = qw( bob );

my @data_bigger = qw( bob bob bob tom sally jim bob bob bob tom sally jim
                      bob bob bob tom sally jim bob bob bob tom sally jim
                      bob bob bob tom sally jim bob bob bob tom sally jim
                      bob bob bob tom sally jim bob bob bob tom sally jim
                      bob bob bob tom sally jim bob bob bob tom sally jim
                      bob bob bob tom sally jim bob bob bob tom sally jim
                      bob bob bob tom sally jim bob bob bob tom sally jim
                      bob bob bob tom sally jim bob bob bob tom sally jim
                    );

cmpthese( 10_000, {
                   mf_small  => \&mf_small,
                   sf_small  => \&sf_small,
                  }
        );

cmpthese( 2500, {
                 mf_bigger => \&mf_bigger,
                 sf_bigger => \&sf_bigger,
                }
        );

sub sf_small {
  my $f = Statistics::Frequency->new( @data_small );
  my %f = reverse $f->frequencies;
  die "sf broken" unless $f{$f->frequencies_max} eq 'bob';
}

sub sf_bigger {
  my $f = Statistics::Frequency->new( @data_bigger );
  my %f = reverse $f->frequencies;
  die "sf broken" unless $f{$f->frequencies_max} eq 'bob';
}

sub mf_small {
  my $f = most_frequent( @data_small );
  die "mf broken" unless $f eq 'bob';
}

sub mf_bigger {
  my $f = most_frequent( @data_bigger );
  #die "mf broken" unless $f eq 'bob';
}

sub most_frequent{
  local *_=*_; $_[$_{$_}] = $_ for map{$_{$_}++; $_} @_; $_[-1];
}



Benchmark: timing 10000 iterations of mf_small, sf_small...
  mf_small:  4 wallclock secs ( 2.56 usr +  0.54 sys =  3.10 CPU) @ 3225.81/s (
n=10000)
  sf_small:  1 wallclock secs ( 0.71 usr +  0.13 sys =  0.84 CPU) @ 11904.76/s ( n=10000)
              Rate mf_small sf_small
              mf_small  3226/s       --     -73%
              sf_small 11905/s     269%       --
Benchmark: timing 2500 iterations of mf_bigger, sf_bigger...
  mf_bigger: 23 wallclock secs (12.17 usr + 10.49 sys = 22.66 CPU) @ 110.33/s (n= 2500)
  sf_bigger:  1 wallclock secs ( 1.11 usr +  0.14 sys =  1.25 CPU) @ 2000.00/s (n =2500)
              Rate mf_bigger sf_bigger
              mf_bigger  110/s        --      -94%
              sf_bigger 2000/s     1713%        --