That reminds me of a question I like to use for teaching intermediate-level perlers:

What is the difference between @{\@foo} and @{[@foo]}?
I think it makes a good interview question, too.

I don't think it is really the same reason at all. The reference/dereference cycle in your example is real, but insignificant, while the & sigil is usually optional but sometimes affects perl parsing and compilation. Ovid and tirwhan covered the traps nicely.

After Compline,
Zaxo

In reply to Re^2: What's so bad about &function(...)? by Zaxo
in thread What's so bad about &function(...)? by japhy

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