On the other hand, if I have to surround it with variable declarations and mechanisms for recovering variables, and if I have to pass it a whole load of arguments (and think about which arguments I'm passing) then it begins to be more trouble than it's worth.

This sounds like you're not factoring your functions enough, nor are you documenting your functions. If you design good functions (especially naming!!), then they will tell you how to call them. They will tell you what they need and how much of it they want. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, my brother. Try it for a month and see how you like it.

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