I haven't seen your method in use, but I've seen the hack.

This closure idiom is useful and used in all manner of situations.

{
    my $static_data;  # will persist between calls and IS PRIVATE

    sub do_stuff {

        my ( $arg1, $arg2, $reset ) = @_;

        # first set our static data if we have not been called before
        # if we have been called then $static_data will be defined
        # static_data can not be accessed outside of this block - ie s
+ub

        $static_data = _expensive_or_private_init() if $reset or ! def
+ined $static_data;

        # blah

    }
}
[download]

Besides the more obvious private variable usage it works well when you create complex data structures or expensive calls to a DB that you only want to do once

cheers

tachyon

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