better documentation for goto &NAME (from M. J. T. Guy)

p4raw-id: //depot/perl@4607

diff --git a/pod/perlfunc.pod b/pod/perlfunc.pod
index 3497ca9..16da798 100644 (file)
--- a/pod/perlfunc.pod
+++ b/pod/perlfunc.pod
@@ -1929,13 +1929,20 @@ necessarily recommended if you're optimizing for maintainability:
 
     goto ("FOO", "BAR", "GLARCH")[$i];
 
-The C<goto-&NAME> form is highly magical, and substitutes a call to the
-named subroutine for the currently running subroutine.  This is used by
-C<AUTOLOAD> subroutines that wish to load another subroutine and then
-pretend that the other subroutine had been called in the first place
-(except that any modifications to C<@_> in the current subroutine are
-propagated to the other subroutine.)  After the C<goto>, not even C<caller>
-will be able to tell that this routine was called first.
+The C<goto-&NAME> form is quite different from the other forms of C<goto>.
+In fact, it isn't a goto in the normal sense at all, and doesn't have
+the stigma associated with other gotos.  Instead, it
+substitutes a call to the named subroutine for the currently running
+subroutine.  This is used by C<AUTOLOAD> subroutines that wish to load
+another subroutine and then pretend that the other subroutine had been
+called in the first place (except that any modifications to C<@_>
+in the current subroutine are propagated to the other subroutine.)
+After the C<goto>, not even C<caller> will be able to tell that this
+routine was called first.
+
+NAME needn't be the name of a subroutine; it can be a scalar variable
+containing a code reference, or a block which evaluates to a code
+reference.
 
 =item grep BLOCK LIST