[Caml-list] Local functions with arguments or closures ?

["Daniel Bünzli" <daniel.buenzli@erratique.ch>]

Hello, 

In the past I remember having indirectly benchmarked two different styles for writing local functions :

    let f x = 
      let v = ... in
      let rec loop x v = ... in 
      loop x v 

or 

    let f x = 
        let v = ... in
        let rec loop () = ... (* uses v and x *) in 
        loop ()

without being able to reach a conclusion. Is there any particular style that is definitively faster ? Does it maybe depend on the number of arguments and/or on whether loop is recursive or not ? 

This question keeps coming back in my mind when I write local functions... I'm sure someone with some knowledge of the compiler's internals can provide a more reasonable answer than benchmarks.  

Best,

Daniel