Is there any reason to prefer
<a href="alpha/beta.html">
over
<a href="http://mysite.com/dir/alpha/beta.html">
(assuming that the links refer to the same location)? And similarly for references to scripts and style sheets.
I worry that the former might be slightly slower because the browser might reuse a connection in the former case but open a new connection in the latter.
Or are browsers smart enough to handle this in the optimal way?