while (foo){
   last if bar;
   #rest of code
}
[download]

while ($foo) {
  die if $bar;
  ...
}

# just kidding :)
[download]

Actually, I do this all the time:

eval
{
    for my $file (@files)
    {
        open FILE, $file or die 'Cannot open file';
        ...
    }
};

warn 'Could not process all files' if $@;
[download]

I sincerely hope that you change this habit.

Now.

Do you like starting debugging without having a clue which file you had problems on, or what helpful information was in $!? How about your co-workers?

For these reasons and more, this is something that I feel extremely strongly on. I do not like working with code written by people who did not understand that this matters. I do not want to depend on people who do not appreciate this. Not knowing that trying to trap good error messages is important is one thing, but refusing to learn is a fireable offence in my books.

(And yes, the strength that I put into that statement does reflect a few very miserable late nights that I do not want to repeat. Ever.)