Many programmers code by instinct, relying on convenient habits or a
"style" they picked up early on. They aren't conscious of all the
choices they make, like how they format their source, the names they use
for variables, or the kinds of loops they use. They're focused entirely
on problems they're solving, solutions they're creating, and algorithms
they're implementing. So they write code in the way that seems natural,
that happens intuitively, and that feels good.

But if you're serious about your profession, intuition isn't enough.
Perl Best Practices author Damian Conway explains that rules,
conventions, standards, and practices not only help programmers
communicate and coordinate with one another, they also provide a
reliable framework for thinking about problems, and a common language
for expressing solutions. This is especially critical in Perl, because
the language is designed to offer many ways to accomplish the same task,
and consequently it supports many incompatible dialects.

With a good dose of Aussie humor, Dr. Conway (familiar to many in the
Perl community) offers 256 guidelines on the art of coding to help you
write better Perl code--in fact, the best Perl code you possibly can.
The guidelines cover code layout, naming conventions, choice of data and
control structures, program decomposition, interface design and
implementation, modularity, object orientation, error handling, testing,
and debugging.