In GDScript, there exists the global preload method. It loads resources as early as possible to front-load the “loading” operations and avoid loading resources while in the middle of performance-sensitive code.
Its counterpart, the load method, loads a resource only when it reaches the load statement. That is, it will load a resource in-place which can cause slowdowns when it occurs in the middle of sensitive processes. The load() function is also an alias for ResourceLoader.load(path) which is accessible to all scripting languages.