Programming style question

Hello, Here's something I've always wanted to know but have never dared ask until now (it seems so basic). If I have defined a function like this.. f <args> = <blah> <args> it could be re-written.. f = <blah> I had always assumed the internal representation of these 2 definitions would be identical (and should yield identical code), but it appears that isn't so (with ghc at least). So.. Is there a semantic difference between the two? Which form is likely to result in faster code? Thanks -- Adrian Hey