OK, let's not arbitrarily turn something into a function call that doesn't have to be, and, more importantly, let's recognize the overhead of loading a module: 
use Benchmark qw(cmpthese);

cmpthese(-2, {
        fs => sub { delete $INC{'File/Slurp.pm'}; require File::Slurp;
+ File::Slurp->import(); $x = read_file("foo") },
        is => sub { $x = do { local (@ARGV, $/) = "foo"; <> }; }
});

---

$ perl5.6.0 test.pl
Benchmark: running fs, is, each for at least 2 CPU seconds...
        fs:  3 wallclock secs ( 2.08 usr +  0.11 sys =  2.19 CPU) @ 26
+6.67/s (n=584)
        is:  2 wallclock secs ( 1.16 usr +  0.86 sys =  2.02 CPU) @ 47
+311.39/s (n=95569)
      Rate     fs     is
fs   267/s     --   -99%
is 47311/s 17642%

[download]
And, yes, I am being a little tongue in cheek with that... but the point is: benchmarks are what you make of them. 
------------
:Wq
Not an editor command: Wq

[download]

In reply to Re^2: use File::Slurp for (!"speed"); by etcshadow
in thread use File::Slurp for (!"speed"); by etcshadow

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