What are best practices for working with subroutines (sub)?

Best practices for working with subroutines in Perl ensure that your code remains clean, maintainable, and efficient. Below are some key practices to follow:

  • Use Meaningful Names: Choose descriptive names for your subroutines that clearly convey their purpose.
  • Limit Scope: Keep the number of parameters to a minimum and prefer passing a hash reference for multiple values.
  • Document Your Code: Include comments and documentation for each subroutine to explain its functionality and usage.
  • Return Values: Ensure that each subroutine returns a value or results clearly and consistently.
  • Fail Gracefully: Handle errors within your subroutines to avoid crashes and provide meaningful error messages.

By following these best practices, you can improve the readability and reliability of your Perl code.

Example of a Perl Subroutine

sub add { my ($num1, $num2) = @_; return $num1 + $num2; } my $result = add(5, 10); print "The result is: $result\n";

Best practices Perl subroutines code maintainability meaningful names error handling