Packages & Performance

[ppm1@cec2.wustl.edu (T. Paul McCartney)]

Today, I encountered an unusual performance difference in my program due to
packages.  I'm not sure why, and I was hoping someone could explain it to me:

My program has two packages, call them A and B.  The actual code that I ran
existed in package A.  I have been running the code in package A from a single
function call in package B.

Now the weird part.  When I have the Listener in package B (i.e. by typing
and entering (in-package :B)), my program takes a certain amount of time
to run.  When I have the Listener in package A, the program only takes
62% of the time than before.  This is obviously highly significant.

The program in package A does use about a dozen symbols from package B, but
not in a major way.  Other than that, there is no communication between them.

Thanks,

- Paul