title: C++ Design: single function performing multiple tasks vs multiple functions performing single task
body: <p>While designing a C++ class, suppose I have following two options:</p>
  
  <p>Option 1: One method with a long argument list and the method performs multiple tasks.<br>
  Option 2: Separate method for each task (each method would have smaller argument lists).</p>
  
  <p>Clearly, in general, option 2 is preferable as it produces cleaner code. However, if these methods were for the sole purpose of being "helpers" to some other method then in case of option 2 I would have to incur the overhead of multiple function calls whereas option 1 would have only one function call.   </p>
  
  <p>Would the supposed performance gain (due to fewer function calls) justify choosing option 1 in such (extreme) a case? </p>