Why are my functions second-class citizens?

So, let's say, purely for the sake of argument, that I have a function like:

sub rv (@) { reverse @_; };
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and I want to call it in this context:

sort rv @list;
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Perl won't let me because it thinks I'm trying to use &rv as the comparison function for sort. I could say:

sort(rv(@list));
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but that doesn't look as cool.

This works:

sort reverse @list;
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How do get perl to treat &rv the same way?

Comment on Why are my functions second-class citizens? Select or Download Code
Re: Why are my functions second-class citizens? by choroba (Prior) on Feb 15, 2012 at 16:43 UTC
How cool is this? `sort +rv @list;` [download]	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Why are my functions second-class citizens? by LanX (Monsignor) on Feb 15, 2012 at 16:52 UTC
Some people want this DWIM functionality, which inhibits to Do What You Mean. Instead of fiddling with this magical syntax, I'd recommend writing a function `my_sort` with a clear interface to do what you want. Cheers Rolf	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Why are my functions second-class citizens? by Old_Gray_Bear (Chancellor) on Feb 15, 2012 at 17:01 UTC
Don't code for 'cool', code for clarity. ---- I Go Back to Sleep, Now. OGB	[reply]
Re: Why are my functions second-class citizens? by JavaFan (Canon) on Feb 15, 2012 at 17:55 UTC
If you don't like the sort-cut sort is offering you, you can always be explicit: `sort {$a cmp $b} rv @list;` [download]	[reply] [d/l]