Problem here is that muted nodes and reroute nodes are supposed to be removed from the execution node tree during the localize function. However, this is function is apparently only used during preview renders and must be considered a hack (is there anything that is not a hack in BI?)
Now the mute/reroute check happens in the node tree exec functions still used by BI and the legacy compositor and texture nodes. It uses the same internal_connect function from nodes to assign input stack indices directly to outputs (which also avoids overhead). Localize function also still does this. Cycles/Tile should also implement muting/reroute in their intermediate node layers by using this function, then it could be removed from localize too.
This branch adds mostly organizational improvements to the node system by renaming the node folders and files. A couple of internal features have been added too.
Detailed information can be found on the wiki page:
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/User:Phonybone/Particles2010