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: 0.21453595161438 s
FASTER: 0.087154865264893 s
RESULT: RIGHT by 0.12738108634949 s

// this is slower
// array_push($myArray, 'myValue');
// this is faster
// $myArray[] = 'myValue';
SLOWER: 0.4476420879364 s
FASTER: 0.19801092147827 s
RESULT: RIGHT by 0.24963116645813 s

// this is slower
// substr($string, 3, 1);
// this is faster
// $string[3];
SLOWER: 0.34171009063721 s
FASTER: 0.11795020103455 s
RESULT: RIGHT by 0.22375988960266 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: 0.11430883407593 s
FASTER: 0.034248828887939 s
FASTst: GIVES SYNTAX ERROR? s
RESULT: RIGHT by 0.080060005187988 s

// this is slower
// preg_match('/^abcde/', $string);
// this is faster
// strncmp('abcde', $string, 5);
SLOWER: 0.51971483230591 s
FASTER: 0.28733801841736 s
RESULT: RIGHT by 0.23237681388855 s

// this is slower
// if(false || true)
// this is faster
// if(true || false)
SLOWER: 0.092024087905884 s
FASTER: 0.10374999046326 s
RESULT: WRONG by -0.011725902557373 s


// this is slower
// $var++
// this is faster
// ++$var
SLOWER: 0.067564010620117 s
FASTER: 0.08802604675293 s
RESULT: WRONG by -0.020462036132812 s