[eluser]Basketcasesoftware[/eluser]
Just a note. I've been working and comparing to 1.7 code at the same time and I think I let something creep in from that. Just an exit function call. That might be part of the slow up. Definitely not needed.
Still haven't gone to sleep.
Thinking about a complete rewrite of this entire core class based on some comments by Phil Sturgeon and others in the "CodeIgniter Engineers" thread. Seeing if certain 'upgrade to PHP 5.0' goals can be achieved without breaking existing code. __get(), __set(). Create private versions of existing functions that were
supposed to be private and providing public wrappers for the legacy stuff is where I'm thinking of heading. Try to see if things can use more commenting (it's pretty good already though).