say you wanted to do
   $condition ? $a=2 : $b=3
would
   ($condition) ? ($a=2) : ($b=3)
then be the correct/advisible way to do it?

It would be one way to do it with a ternary operator. Another way is shown below. Both are correct (i.e., compile without error). Which is 'advisable' depends on circumstances; I tend to prefer the ternary form below, but
   if ($cond) { $a = 2 } else { $b = 3 }
seems the clearest and most advisable of all.

>perl -wMstrict -le
"my $cond = shift;
 $a = $b = 99;
 ($cond ? $a : $b) = ($cond ? 2 : 3);
 print qq{a $a  b $b};
"
0
a 99  b 3

>perl -wMstrict -le
"my $cond = shift;
 $a = $b = 99;
 ($cond ? $a : $b) = ($cond ? 2 : 3);
 print qq{a $a  b $b};
"
1
a 2  b 99
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