use strict;
use warnings;
use Benchmark 'cmpthese';

srand 0;
my @n = map int(rand(2**7)), 1..1000;
my @a = map chr($_), @n;

cmpthese( -1,
          {
           default_n => sub { ( sort               @n )[ 0 ] },
           cmp_n     => sub { ( sort { $a cmp $b } @n )[ 0 ] },
           '<=>'     => sub { ( sort { $a <=> $b } @n )[ 0 ] },
           default_a => sub { ( sort               @a )[ 0 ] },
           cmp_a     => sub { ( sort { $a cmp $b } @a )[ 0 ] },
          }
        );

__END__
            Rate     cmp_n default_n     cmp_a default_a       <=>
cmp_n      667/s        --       -0%       -3%       -3%      -40%
default_n  667/s        0%        --       -3%       -3%      -40%
cmp_a      691/s        4%        4%        --        0%      -38%
default_a  691/s        4%        4%        0%        --      -38%
<=>       1110/s       66%       66%       61%       61%        --