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Perl is in a state of rapid development at the moment. 2010 was a good year, with the introduction of regular perl core release cycles starting with 5.12.0; Moose reaching 1.00; the release of Rakudo Star, the first early-adopter Perl 6 implementation; and the publication of Modern Perl by chromatic documenting many of Perl's newest features.

What new Perl feature in 2010 do you find most useful?

What is so great about that feature and why do you like it? What does it do and why is that great?

How has it changed the way you code? What specific situations does it improve for you and how does it make your life easier?

Philip Potter
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  • to those voting to close: I have tried to follow the [good subjective question guidelines](http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/09/good-subjective-bad-subjective/). I accept it's subjective, but why do you think this question is argumentative? – Philip Potter Jan 08 '11 at 10:51
  • "2010 was a good year, " - good vintage was it? – Mitch Wheat Jan 08 '11 at 10:51
  • @Philip - it is subjective **or** argumentative. SO is not intended to be an opinion oriented discussion forum. – slugster Jan 08 '11 at 10:55
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    @slugster: no, it's subjective *and* argumentative. The guidelines I linked to are on the official stack overflow blog and describe how to write *good* subjective questions. – Philip Potter Jan 08 '11 at 10:59
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    @Philip - here we are, arguing already..... it doesn't mean your question is without merit, it simply means SO is the wrong place for it. SO is a community driven site, if enough people agree then the question will be closed. If it is closed and enough people vote to reopen then it will be reopened. Time will tell which way it goes. – slugster Jan 08 '11 at 11:03
  • @slugster: here are [some](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/75102/best-java-book-you-have-read-so-far) [examples](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/336715/what-are-good-books-for-learning-perl) [of](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/140677/how-often-should-you-refactor) [good](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/35760/best-scrum-tools) [subjective](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1079114/spring-transactional-annotation-best-practice) [questions](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/116684/what-algorithm-should-i-use-to-hash-passwords-into-my-database). – Philip Potter Jan 08 '11 at 11:03
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    @Phillip ["Avoid asking questions that are subjective, argumentative, or require extended discussion."](http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/09/good-subjective-bad-subjective/). That's definitely an *or*. Regardless, any answer here is going to be highly opinionated. Most of those questions you link to are old, posted at a time when subjective questions were more accepted here. – moinudin Jan 08 '11 at 11:10
  • @marcog: huh. that's a strange inconsistency with what it shows in the close-vote dialog, where it says "subjective and argumentative". Also, you're quoting an old version of the faq - it now says "Avoid asking subjective or argumentative questions. If you must ask a subjective question, make sure it meets the six guidelines for great subjective questions, or it will be closed." And there's nothing wrong with opinion, provided it's backed up with experience, which is what I asked for in my question. – Philip Potter Jan 08 '11 at 11:14
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    @Phillip If you want to discuss this, go to [meta](http://meta.stackoverflow.com/). – moinudin Jan 08 '11 at 11:17
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    I'm voting to re-open. The "What is so great about that feature and why do you like it? What does it do and why is that great?" can make for a good useful list. – DVK Jan 08 '11 at 15:47

1 Answers1

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For me, the feature I have found most useful is cpanminus. I can now install CPAN modules easily, without having to enter a different shell, and without having to worry about any configuration; cpanminus just works.

This means that I spend much more time choosing good CPAN modules to base my code on, safe in the knowledge that installing them will not be a chore.

cjm
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Philip Potter
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