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: 0.17100811004639 s
FASTER: 0.059159994125366 s
RESULT: RIGHT by 0.11184811592102 s

// this is slower
// array_push($myArray, 'myValue');
// this is faster
// $myArray[] = 'myValue';
SLOWER: 0.17442297935486 s
FASTER: 0.12343597412109 s
RESULT: RIGHT by 0.050987005233765 s

// this is slower
// substr($string, 3, 1);
// this is faster
// $string[3];
SLOWER: 0.092542171478271 s
FASTER: 0.028599977493286 s
RESULT: RIGHT by 0.063942193984985 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: 0.053897142410278 s
FASTER: 0.039941072463989 s
FASTst: GIVES SYNTAX ERROR? s
RESULT: RIGHT by 0.013956069946289 s

// this is slower
// preg_match('/^abcde/', $string);
// this is faster
// strncmp('abcde', $string, 5);
SLOWER: 0.23120284080505 s
FASTER: 0.12410283088684 s
RESULT: RIGHT by 0.10710000991821 s

// this is slower
// if(false || true)
// this is faster
// if(true || false)
SLOWER: 0.052371025085449 s
FASTER: 0.042606830596924 s
RESULT: RIGHT by 0.0097641944885254 s


// this is slower
// $var++
// this is faster
// ++$var
SLOWER: 0.079709053039551 s
FASTER: 0.066166877746582 s
RESULT: RIGHT by 0.013542175292969 s