Having difficulty coming-up with what the prototype for my sub might look like.

Great, that should convince you not to use prototypes :)

 $scalar @array %hash

no no no no no :P thats what $ and @ and % already tell you

Re: Perl Best Practices for naming variables Re^5: Perl Best Practices for naming variables (sv, av, hv)

Re^3: Correct idiom for default parameters Correct idiom for default parameters
RFC: New style for argument check in subs
Accept user options with defaults and report unknowns.