$foo and $bar would have done just as well, but after overexposure to Perl Golf, I'm tending to use shorter names anyway. $x and $y perhaps? Recently I was having trouble when I called a variable in a C++ structure "errno". Collisions occur in many languages.

The "only way to fly" comment is about clarity of programming, not about the way to code. TMTOWTDI is always assumed, of course. IO::Handle's methods do seem to be the clearest from the point of maintenance and understanding, but I'm not advocating that you must use IO::Handle. I am advocating that people create code that works and makes sense.