I think that those who are asking such questions have had a lot of experiences where they've seen things that they'd code in a clunky way in some other language done in one simple step in Perl. They're hoping to expand their knowledge of the tools available in Perl (and who among us isn't?), thinking that there's got to be a less clunky way than what they're trying. Using multiple statements to do something that is, in one's mind, atomic, is clunky.

There is a tendency among less experienced coders -- those who haven't had to go back and rework their programs months later -- to value "coolness" over clarity. That's a viewpoint that is usually self-correcting in time.

Good points about clarity and subroutines.