belg4mit,
Thanks for the distinction on when it is ok/not ok to use AUTOLOAD. I am sure some people would disagree - those people probably know what they are doing - I don't. I would assume that you would say it is ok to:

no strict 'refs';
*{$AUTOLOAD} = sub { return $_[0]->{foobar} };
return $_[0]->{foobar};
[download]

as a way to speed things up for subesequent calls as long as you know what you are doing.

Cheers - L~R