谷歌找到了这个lovely test scenario：

#!/usr/bin/perl
# 
#  Exercise 7.8 
# 
# This is a more difficult exercise. The study function in Perl may speed up searches 
# for motifs in DNA or protein. Read the Perl documentation on this function. Its use 
# is simple: given some sequence data in a variable $sequence, type:
# 
# study $sequence;
# 
# before doing the searches. Do you think study will speed up searches in DNA or 
# protein, based on what you've read about it in the documentation?
# 
# For lots of extra credit! Now read the Perl documentation on the standard module 
# Benchmark. (Type perldoc Benchmark, or visit the Perl home page at http://www.
# perl.com.) See if your guess is right by writing a program that benchmarks motif 
# searches of DNA and of protein, with and without study.
#
# Answer to Exercise 7.8

use strict;
use warnings;

use Benchmark;

my $dna = join ('', qw(
agatggcggcgctgaggggtcttgggggctctaggccggccacctactgg
tttgcagcggagacgacgcatggggcctgcgcaataggagtacgctgcct
gggaggcgtgactagaagcggaagtagttgtgggcgcctttgcaaccgcc
tgggacgccgccgagtggtctgtgcaggttcgcgggtcgctggcgggggt
cgtgagggagtgcgccgggagcggagatatggagggagatggttcagacc
cagagcctccagatgccggggaggacagcaagtccgagaatggggagaat
gcgcccatctactgcatctgccgcaaaccggacatcaactgcttcatgat
cgggtgtgacaactgcaatgagtggttccatggggactgcatccggatca
ctgagaagatggccaaggccatccgggagtggtactgtcgggagtgcaga
gagaaagaccccaagctagagattcgctatcggcacaagaagtcacggga
gcgggatggcaatgagcgggacagcagtgagccccgggatgagggtggag
ggcgcaagaggcctgtccctgatccagacctgcagcgccgggcagggtca
gggacaggggttggggccatgcttgctcggggctctgcttcgccccacaa
atcctctccgcagcccttggtggccacacccagccagcatcaccagcagc
agcagcagcagatcaaacggtcagcccgcatgtgtggtgagtgtgaggca
tgtcggcgcactgaggactgtggtcactgtgatttctgtcgggacatgaa
gaagttcgggggccccaacaagatccggcagaagtgccggctgcgccagt
gccagctgcgggcccgggaatcgtacaagtacttcccttcctcgctctca
ccagtgacgccctcagagtccctgccaaggccccgccggccactgcccac
ccaacagcagccacagccatcacagaagttagggcgcatccgtgaagatg
agggggcagtggcgtcatcaacagtcaaggagcctcctgaggctacagcc
acacctgagccactctcagatgaggaccta
));

my $protein = join('', qw(
MNIDDKLEGLFLKCGGIDEMQSSRTMVVMGGVSGQSTVSGELQD
SVLQDRSMPHQEILAADEVLQESEMRQQDMISHDELMVHEETVKNDEEQMETHERLPQ
GLQYALNVPISVKQEITFTDVSEQLMRDKKQIR
));

my $count = 1000;

print "DNA pattern matches without 'study' function:\n";
timethis($count,
    ' for(my $i=1 ; $i < 10000; ++$i) {
        $dna =~ /aggtc/;
        $dna =~ /aatggccgt/;
        $dna =~ /gatcgatcagctagcat/;
        $dna =~ /gtatgaac/;
        $dna =~ /[ac][cg][gt][ta]/;
        $dna =~ /ccccccccc/;
    } '
);

print "\nDNA pattern matches with 'study' function:\n";
timethis($count,
    ' study $dna;
    for(my $i=1 ; $i < 10000; ++$i) {
        $dna =~ /aggtc/;
        $dna =~ /aatggccgt/;
        $dna =~ /gatcgatcagctagcat/;
        $dna =~ /gtatgaac/;
        $dna =~ /[ac][cg][gt][ta]/;
        $dna =~ /ccccccccc/;
    } '
);

print "\nProtein pattern matches without 'study' function:\n";
timethis($count,
    ' for(my $i=1 ; $i < 10000; ++$i) {
        $protein =~ /PH.EI/;
        $protein =~ /KFTEQGESMRLY/;
        $protein =~ /[YAL][NVP][ISV][KQE]/;
        $protein =~ /DKKQIR/;
        $protein =~ /[MD][VT][HQ][ER]/;
        $protein =~ /NVPISVKQEITFTDVSEQL/;
    } '
);

print "\nProtein pattern matches with 'study' function:\n";
timethis($count,
    ' study $protein;
    for(my $i=1 ; $i < 10000; ++$i) {
        $protein =~ /PH.EI/;
        $protein =~ /KFTEQGESMRLY/;
        $protein =~ /[YAL][NVP][ISV][KQE]/;
        $protein =~ /DKKQIR/;
        $protein =~ /[MD][VT][HQ][ER]/;
        $protein =~ /NVPISVKQEITFTDVSEQL/;
    } '
);

请注意，对于利润最高的情况（蛋白质匹配），报告的收益仅约为2%：

#  $ perl exer07.08
# On my computer, this is the output I get: your results probably vary.

#  DNA pattern matches without 'study' function:
#  timethis 1000: 29 wallclock secs (29.25 usr +  0.00 sys = 29.25 CPU) @ 34.19/s (n=1000)
#  
#  DNA pattern matches with 'study' function:
#  timethis 1000: 30 wallclock secs (29.21 usr +  0.15 sys = 29.36 CPU) @ 34.06/s (n=1000)
#  
#  Protein pattern matches without 'study' function:
#  timethis 1000: 32 wallclock secs (29.47 usr +  0.04 sys = 29.51 CPU) @ 33.89/s (n=1000)
#  
#  Protein pattern matches with 'study' function:
#  timethis 1000: 30 wallclock secs (28.97 usr +  0.02 sys = 28.99 CPU) @ 34.49/s (n=1000)
#

我会留下笔记作为答案，稍后我会把它发展成一个实际的答案：
在 pp.c 的PP(pp_study)中，它有以下几行奇怪的代码（没有注解）：

if (len == 0 || len > I32_MAX || !SvPOK(sv) || SvUTF8(sv) || SvVALID(sv)) {
RETPUSHNO;
}

看起来带UTF8标志的标量根本没有被研究过。

不完全是。如果你搜索，大多数结果是在Perl测试套件，这意味着没有人使用它。而且，由于bug，你只能notice speed benefits on global variables。它实际上带来了一些速度增强时，处理英语（有时甚至快2倍），但你必须使变量全局。
它有时也会导致infinite loops或false positives（study可能会给你的程序增加bug，即使它只是为了让程序更快），因此在Perl 5.16中它被删除了（或者更确切地说，使之成为空操作）--没有人想维护一个没有人关心的部分。

无。自2012年以来，study does nothing。
目前代码有

if (len == 0 || len > I32_MAX || !SvPOK(sv) || SvUTF8(sv) || SvVALID(sv)) {
    /* Historically, study was skipped in these cases. */
    SETs(&PL_sv_no);
    return NORMAL;
}

/* Make study a no-op. It's no longer useful and its existence
   complicates matters elsewhere. */
SETs(&PL_sv_yes);
return NORMAL;

这意味着study在它以前已经做了一些事情的情况下返回true，否则返回false--但是它实际上从来没有做过任何事情。