Benchmarking of PHP string manipulations
	inspired by:
	http://www.jaisenmathai.com/blog/2008/02/29/10-tips-to-make-your-php-application-scream-part-2-of-n/
	written for:
	conductr.com
Each operation is microtime(true)ed while 100,000 executions occur. Then compared with its alternative.

// this is slower
// if(intval($age) > 13)
// this is faster
// if((int)$age) > 13)
SLOWER: 0.08121919631958 s
FASTER: 0.03964900970459 s
RESULT: RIGHT by 0.04157018661499 s

// this is slower
// array_push($myArray, 'myValue');
// this is faster
// $myArray[] = 'myValue';
SLOWER: 0.10667705535889 s
FASTER: 0.069965124130249 s
RESULT: RIGHT by 0.036711931228638 s

// this is slower
// substr($string, 3, 1);
// this is faster
// $string[3];
SLOWER: 0.074847936630249 s
FASTER: 0.018677949905396 s
RESULT: RIGHT by 0.056169986724854 s

// this is slower
// "Hello, my name is $name";
// this is faster
// 'Hello, my name is ' . $name;
// this is fastest (using comma instead of period)
// 'Hello, my name is ' , $name;
SLOWER: 0.042226076126099 s
FASTER: 0.028066873550415 s
FASTst: GIVES SYNTAX ERROR? s
RESULT: RIGHT by 0.014159202575684 s

// this is slower
// preg_match('/^abcde/', $string);
// this is faster
// strncmp('abcde', $string, 5);
SLOWER: 0.1500391960144 s
FASTER: 0.092277050018311 s
RESULT: RIGHT by 0.057762145996094 s

// this is slower
// if(false || true)
// this is faster
// if(true || false)
SLOWER: 0.021991968154907 s
FASTER: 0.020005941390991 s
RESULT: RIGHT by 0.001986026763916 s


// this is slower
// $var++
// this is faster
// ++$var
SLOWER: 0.048180103302002 s
FASTER: 0.025331974029541 s
RESULT: RIGHT by 0.022848129272461 s