I concur; there is value to be had from learning *how* to get that last little squinch of performance out of a bit of code, but the actual doing-so should be saved for when you need it.

The choice of an array-vs-hash for me frequently comes down to readability for myself and my teammates--someone else who isn't as skilled with Perl as I am will have to read this, so it needs to make sense. For the way we work, that usually means "hashes."