sub describe {
my $ref = shift();
my %person = %{$ref};
print "$person{name} is a $person{job}"
}
...
describe( { person=>'buffy', job=>'vampire slayer' } );


##</code><code>##

sub describe {
my %person = @_;
print "$person{name} is a $person{job}"
}
...
describe( person=>'buffy', job=>'vampire slayer' );

##</code><code>##

sub describe {
my $personref = shift;
print "$person->{name} is a $person->{job}";
}
...
describe( { person=>'buffy', job=>'vampire slayer' } );


##</code><code>##

p:\test>Bench
             Rate describe1 describe2 describe3 describe4
describe1  5186/s        --      -28%      -76%      -78%
describe2  7232/s       39%        --      -66%      -70%
describe3 21387/s      312%      196%        --      -11%
describe4 24048/s      364%      233%       12%        --

##</code><code>##

p:\test>Bench -P -N=-1 >log
             Rate describe1 describe2 describe3 describe4
describe1  4458/s        --      -25%      -71%      -73%
describe2  5907/s       32%        --      -62%      -65%
describe3 15361/s      245%      160%        --       -8%
describe4 16639/s      273%      182%        8%        --

##</code><code>##

#! perl -slw
use strict;
use Benchmark qw[ cmpthese ];
use vars qw[ $P $N ];

sub describe1 {
    my $ref = shift;
    my %person = %{ $ref };
    my @__passed_to_print = "$person{person} is a $person{job}";
    print @__passed_to_print if $P;
}

sub describe2 {
    my $ref = shift;
    my @__passed_to_print = "$ref->{person} is a $ref->{job}";
    print @__passed_to_print if $P;
}

sub describe3 {
    my( $person, $job ) = @_;
    my @__passed_to_print = "$person is a $job";
    print @__passed_to_print if $P;
}

use constant { PERSON=>0, JOB=>1 };

sub describe4 {
    my @__passed_to_print = "$_[PERSON] is a $_[JOB]";
    print @__passed_to_print if $P;
}

cmpthese( $N || -1, {
    describe1 => q[ describe1( { person=>'Buffy', job=>'Vampire Slayer' } ); ],
    describe2 => q[ describe2( { person=>'Buffy', job=>'Vampire Slayer' } ); ],
    describe3 => q[ describe3(           'Buffy',      'Vampire Slayer'   ); ],
    describe4 => q[ describe4(           'Buffy',      'Vampire Slayer'   ); ],
});