yikes, i have to resort to them whenever i want to have "generic" logic that deals with a multitude of routines.
 
i use symbolic references for :
  object methods
  dispatch tables
  and in most unit test scripts
If you have a better alternative; i'll consider it!

##</code><code>##

package <>;
our $scalarMethods;
@{ $scalarMethods } = qw( name );

foreach my $attributeScalar ( @{ $scalarMethods } ) {
  no strict "refs";

  *$attributeScalar = sub {
    my $subName = $package . "::$attributeScalar";
    if ($VRB)   { print "    $subName \n"; }
    my ($self) = shift;
    if (@_) { $self->{$attributeScalar} = shift; }
    return $self->{$attributeScalar};
  }
}

##</code><code>##

for ( $ndx=0; $ndx<=0; $ndx++ ) {
    no strict 'refs';
    ($kgDATA,$pmDATA) = &{ "cktTmplt_utils::$SUB" }($ndx );

##</code><code>##

# are package variables accessible ?
no strict "refs";
foreach my $pkg ( @{ $filePackages } ) {
    for ( my $i=0; $i<=1; $i++ ) {
        ${ $pkg . "::VRB" } = $i;
        is( $i, ${ $pkg . "::VRB" },  "GLBL VAR : VRB" );
        ${ $pkg . "::TST" } = $i;
        is( $i, ${ $pkg . "::TST" }, "GLBL VAR : TST" );
    }
    ${ $pkg . "::VRB" } = 1;		# no STDOUT durings tests
    ${ $pkg . "::TST" } = 1;		# return data and don't execute
}
use strict "refs";