Okay, so we've established that there is no genuinely
useful reason why so many blocks are allocated.
The code is only the way it is because of legacy reasons.

For long-term maintenance, I just feel it would be
better to simplify the code than to leave it
complicated. Even if there's no performance increase,
it would make the code easier to understand, and
put less stress on the memory manager. As one
of POV-Ray's stated goals is to be an educational tool,
simplifying the code would help students, would it not?
What's the point of having unnecessary obsfucation
in an educational tool? Perhaps it might be a waste
of programmer time, but what about students' time?
And what if the existing code imparts the wrong lesson?

At the very least, put in a comment saying
"This code is overly complex. Given the choice,
we would have implemented it this way..."

--
Ray Gardener
Daylon Graphics Ltd.
"Heightfield modeling perfected"
http://www.daylongraphics.com

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