How has support for references and memory usage changed across recent Perl versions?

Perl's support for references has evolved significantly over the years. Recent versions have improved efficiency in memory usage and data handling, making it easier for developers to manage complex data structures. This article explores how these changes benefit programmers and enhance Perl's capabilities.
Perl references, memory usage, Perl versions, data structures, programming efficiency
# Example of creating and using references in Perl my $array_ref = [1, 2, 3]; # Array reference my $hash_ref = { key => 'value' }; # Hash reference # Accessing elements through references print $array_ref->[0]; # Outputs: 1 print $hash_ref->{key}; # Outputs: value

Perl references memory usage Perl versions data structures programming efficiency