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To:	quanstro@epsilon.eecs.nwu.edu (Erik Quanstrom)
Subject: Re: lazy auto-loading of functions 
Cc:	rc@hawkwind.utcs.toronto.edu
Date:	Wed, 19 May 1993 14:05:10 -0400
From:	Alan Watson <alan@oldp.astro.wisc.edu>
X-Mts: smtp

Functions are where it's at.  They have two advantages from a
programmers point of view over shell scripts: you can use them as
front-ends to executables and then use `builtin' to get at the original
(John Macklin posted a `pathos' script to the mailing list way back, but
using builtin in a function is more elegant) and you can also rid of
them with -p, and not have to play tricks with path in sensitive
scripts.  It's also one fewer fork and exec.

I have enough functions that I don't want to keep them all in .rcrc, One
of the reasons I hadn't converted more of my scripts to functions was
that I was worried things sourcing them all individually would be slow
-- now there is no impediment.

Alan.