Thanks to all for your suggestions, and I now give you the final code release (the entire subroutine where the snippet is found):
sub generate{
  my $self=shift;
  my $Total_Questions=_get_FileLength($self);
  my $FileName=_get_FileName($self);
  my $Data=shift;
  my $Max_Questions=shift;

  $Max_Questions = $Total_Questions
     unless defined $Max_Questions;

  croak"Number of questions in $FileName exceeded"
    if $Max_Questions > $Total_Questions;

  croak"Must have at least one question in test"
    if $Max_Questions < 1;

  &_set_Max_Questions($self,$Max_Questions);

#
# Original Code
# 
# if(!defined $Max_Questions){
#    $Max_Questions=$Total_Questions;
#    &_set_Max_Questions($self,$Max_Questions);
#  }elsif($Max_Questions > $Total_Questions){
#    croak"Number of questions exceeds the amount in $FileName";
#  }elsif($Max_Questions < 1){
#    croak"Must have at least one question in the test";
#  }else{
#    &_set_Max_Questions($self,$Max_Questions);
#  }
  
  my %Randoms=();
  my @Randoms=();
  my %Test_Questions=();
  my %Test_Answers=(); 
  my %Question_Lengths=();
  my $E;

  for(1..$Max_Questions){
    my $question_number=int(rand($Total_Questions)+1);
    redo if exists $Randoms{$question_number};
    $Randoms{$question_number}=1;
  }

  @Randoms=keys %Randoms;
  &_shuffle(\@Randoms);

  for(my $D=0;$D<$Max_Questions;$D++){
    $Test_Answers{$Randoms[$D]}=pop @{$$Data{$Randoms[$D]}};
    $Test_Questions{$Randoms[$D]} = $$Data{$Randoms[$D]};
  }
  
  foreach my $key(keys %Test_Questions){
    $E=@{$Test_Questions{$key}};
    $Question_Lengths{$key}=$E;
  }
  return \%Test_Questions,\%Test_Answers,\%Question_Lengths,\@Randoms;
}

[download]


TStanley
--------
Never underestimate the power of very stupid people in large groups -- Anonymous

In reply to Re: Optimization of a piece of code(Is there a better way than this?) by TStanley
in thread Optimization of a piece of code(Is there a better way than this?) by TStanley

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.