I like code that I can see exactly what is going on without going back and forth in the lines of code. Especially when a script becomes gargantuan. In your first case: 

my %tests = map { $_ => 0 ) qw/ tfred tjock tfortytwo / ;

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would be my preferred style. I could also go with: 
my $tests ={};
map { $tests -> { $_ } = 0 } qw/ tfred tjock tfortytwo /;

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as long as those two lines are next to each other in the code. Passing a reference to a hash to subs later on is more readable to my eyes that something like: 
callToSub(\%tests);

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but that is a personal preference.

In your second case I am a big fan of 

my $errstr = ( $case != OK ? $msg[$case] : "" );

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kinds of things. (Line right out of one of my projects). The term OK is the result of a stack of use constant OK =>0; sorts of things where I use constants to aid in my code's readability.

Peter L. Berghold -- Unix Professional
Peter -at- Berghold -dot- Net; AOL IM redcowdawg Yahoo IM: blue_cowdawg

In reply to Re: Two simple code style advice questions by blue_cowdawg
in thread Two simple code style advice questions by eyepopslikeamosquito

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