My thought on this is that, if the dictates of your application lend or require you to return a list, rather than a ref, try and return the list without building an array first, if it's sensible to do so.

As a example, rather than 

sub get_3d_xyz { 
    $self = shift;
    my @xyz = ( $self->get_x()
              , $self->get_y()
              , $self->get_z() );

    return @xyz;
}

[download]

save allocating and building the intermediate lexical array and do 

sub get_3d_xyz { 
    $self = shift;
    return ( $self->get_x(), $self->get_y(), $self->get_z() );
}

[download]

Or even, 

use constant SELF => 0;
sub get_3d_xyz { 
    ( $_[SELF]->get_x()
    , $_[SELF]->get_y()
    , $_[SELF]->get_z() ); 
}

[download]

Each of those steps shaves a few micro/milliseconds of the operation. Not a lot as and of itself, but at the heart of a 3d-graphic class, significant enough.

Updated: Corrected a couple of typos. Thanks ihb.

Examine what is said, not who speaks.

The 7th Rule of perl club is -- pearl clubs are easily damaged. Use a diamond club instead.

In reply to Re: Returning lists vs arrays by BrowserUk
in thread Returning lists vs arrays by rir

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