[slang-users] advantage of $1 over a variable

[Michael Noble]

> I ask myself often, what is the advantage of $1 or $2 (and so on) over a
> real variable with a name? Is there any?

Functionally, I don't think so.  Syntactically, perhaps a little.

For example, I find myself using them in system-oriented scripts or
"rc" files, like for resetting load or import paths, mainly for the 
convenience of avoiding explicit variable declarations or setting
_auto_declare=1.  It helps keep short-ish scripts slightly shorter.

Regards,
-Mike