Why is a 'use' statement executed first in a BEGIN block?

Question

When I execute the following code, I get Can't locate SomePackage.pm in @INC ....

BEGIN {
    die;
    use SomePackage;
}

Why is use executed before die?

Answer 1

use SomePackage is exactly equivalent to

BEGIN { require SomePackage; SomePackage->import }

A BEGIN code block is executed as soon as possible, that is, the moment it is completely defined. The second BEGIN (which is implied by use) is completely defined first, and is thus executed first.

Answer 2

From http://perldoc.perl.org/functions/use.html

Because use takes effect at compile time, it doesn't respect the ordinary flow control of the code being compiled.