1) Is this were "my" comes in? What about "local?" What's the difference? I understand local went out with the goto statement. True?

To explain the differences, there would have to similarities.

my creates a lexically scoped variable.

local temporarily saves a package variable, array element or hash element. The previous value of the variable will be restored when the current scope is exited.

2) How do I return a value from a sub to main, if Perl doesn't have a return statement?

By using the return statement or by evaluating the value to return as the last statement of the sub.

sub f { ...; return $x + 1 }
sub f { ...; $x + 1 }
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