The relative importance of strict is a tricky thing to assess. For example, every once in a while, I see people using a scalar reference ($$x). However, if $x is actually a string in that example, Perl will treat it as a symbolic reference. Results can be very unpredictable.

Of course, I'm taking a very unusual scenario there, so that's not fair :)

If the code was developed under strict, I would argue it should be left in. If performance is an issue, Devel::Dprof, Devel::SmallProf and Benchmark will likely do far more for improving performance than removing strict. However, there is no need to worry about performance unless it has demonstrably become a problem. Too much Bad Stuff has made its way into the programming world because of false optimizations made in the name of performance.

Some people routine write such weird stuff that repeatedly turning strict off and on would be a hindrance for them, so they leave it off. Mere mortals such as myself should not consider that route.

Of course, since I can't seem to shut up about testing, I'll add that if variables are properly declared and good scoping rules are enforced, I wouldn't mind strict being absent if a decent test suite was present. I've yet to see any OSS accounting package with such a suite.

Cheers,
Ovid

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Thanks for the reply, I'll check out those modules and keep strict around for the time being :).

The big deal if use strict is removed is that it is only a matter of time before somebody decides to try to "fix" a bug in production code without bothering to re-enable strict. When that happens, and it probably will in most deployment environments, the risks of not using strict will far outweigh any potential slowdown from using it.

Besides, in what situation is the speed of an accounting application ever going to be more important that its correctness. I'd much rather have the code dealing with my money protected by the safety afforded by strict than have the code run a little faster.

Update: changed "executions" to "operations" in the first paragraph.

strict 'vars' and strict 'subs' are compile time directives. However, strict 'refs' has runtime implications. See strict.

-Blake

Excellent explanation, thanks :).