replacement of short functions by their definitions and other code cleanups

Andreas,

Replacement of PT-RED and other simple functions by their
definitions is causing some anxiety among the developers and
that's very bad for the project.

I'm pretty sure I speak for other developers when I say that
we should preserve short functions which express some
nontrivial concept. (The function may be trivial but the concept
may well be something interesting.)

PT-RED has come up in discussions today. Are there some
other functions which have been similarly replaced recently?
I think at this point we need to review these cases, if any.
If you would please make a list of any such functions, we
can take a look at each one and decide whether to preserve
it or replace it.

Also, please bear in mind that nonfunctional changes, which
by nature are a matter of taste, should be made rather
conservatively. I would prefer to see a lesser number of
commits of nonfunctional changes. Again I'm pretty sure
I speak for other developers on this topic.

All the best,
Robert