>it was stated that a method call is UP TO 7 times slower than a function call. What conditions make the method call that much slower.
>Are there certain guidelines i can follow to minimize the time required for a method call ?
>
>Also if disk access is the slowest part of the process at say 10000 times slower than executing a method call or 70000 times slower than
>making a function call then isn't the difference in speed irrelevant?
>

Not necessarily. I use VFP at times to generate binary data, and if I have to call data conversion routines to convert integers to a 4 byte long DWORD (or worse, convert a 6 character Canadian Postal Code to a continuous integer representation) it takes measurable time - especially when you make the same call a few hundred thousand times...

FWIW, when things get that bad, i usually rewrite the conversion functions in C and take the hit for calling a .DLL - it's faster.