I appreciate constructive comments, though do your homework next time you want to make false statements.

Code:
alias testini {
  var %a = 1000, %b = $ticks
  while (%a) {
    !.echo -q $readini($mircini,text,commandchar)
    dec %a
  }
  echo -a $calc($ticks - %b) milliseconds for 1000 operations
}


This takes 235 milliseconds on my computer for 1000 iterations, and that's even with the while loop, !.echo -q and dec %a included. So I'm thinking doing a couple of reads now and then isn't gonna be much of a system drag wink