Don't use prototypes unless you can clearly explain why you're using them. Their only significant benefit in Perl is to change how you call a subroutine, but they are so filled with caveats and gotchas that they're easy to use incorrectly. Read this recent thread on prototypes for more info, particularly the short and accurate explanation by Dominus.

As for using ref: I hate to say it, but I'd avoid that also. Take a look at code on this site that uses ref and you'll find that most (not all!) instances of it are indicative of some design flaw in the code.

Cheers,
Ovid

Join the Perlmonks Setiathome Group.

New address of my CGI Course.

In reply to Re: Re: Confused about typeglobs and references by Ovid
in thread Confused about typeglobs and references by Argel

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.