Or else... what?

gistfile1.scala

object Test {
  val pf: PartialFunction[String, Boolean] = {
    case "hello" => true
  }
  val slow: PartialFunction[String, Boolean]  =
    ((pf /: List.tabulate(100){_ => pf}) { 
      (a,e) => a.orElse(e)
    }).orElse {
      case _ => false
    }
  def alot(block: => Any) {
    for (_ <- 1 to 100000) block
  }
  def time(block: => Any) {
    val start = System.currentTimeMillis
    block
    println(System.currentTimeMillis - start)
  }
}

scala> Test.time { Test.alot { Test.pf("hello") } }
6

scala> Test.time { Test.alot { Test.slow("hello") } }
1115

scala> Test.time { Test.alot { Test.slow("hell") } }
1113

With the second version:

scala> Test.time { Test.alot { Test.pf("hello") } }
6

scala> Test.time { Test.alot { Test.slow("hello") } }
1254

scala> Test.time { Test.alot { Test.slow("hell") } }
108

scala> Test.slow("hello")
apply #-1
isDefinedAt #5
isDefinedAt #4
isDefinedAt #3
isDefinedAt #2
isDefinedAt #1
apply #5
isDefinedAt #4
isDefinedAt #3
isDefinedAt #2
isDefinedAt #1
apply #4
isDefinedAt #3
isDefinedAt #2
isDefinedAt #1
apply #3
isDefinedAt #2
isDefinedAt #1
apply #2
isDefinedAt #1
apply #1
res4: Boolean = true

scala> Test.slow("hell")
apply #-1
isDefinedAt #5
isDefinedAt #4
isDefinedAt #3
isDefinedAt #2
isDefinedAt #1
res3: Boolean = false

I think I can improve on this!