gistfile1.php

<?php

//Approach 1 with json encode/decode
$obj1 = new stdClass();
$obj1->prop1 = 'hello';
$obj1->prop2 = 'world';

$obj2 = new stdClass();
$obj2->prop1 = 'hello';
$obj2->prop2 = 'world';

$arr = array($obj1, $obj2);

$time_pre = microtime(true);
for($i=0;$i<1000000;$i++){
  json_decode(json_encode($arr), TRUE);
}
$time_post = microtime(true);
$exec_time = $time_post - $time_pre;
print $exec_time; //prints 5.3 seconds



//Approach 2 with type casting
$obj1 = new stdClass();
$obj1->prop1 = 'hello';
$obj1->prop2 = 'world';

$obj2 = new stdClass();
$obj2->prop1 = 'hello';
$obj2->prop2 = 'world';

$arr = array($obj1, $obj2);
$time_pre = microtime(true);
for($i=0;$i<1000000;$i++){
  foreach ($arr as &$obj) {
    $obj = (array) $obj;
  }
}
$time_post = microtime(true);
$exec_time = $time_post - $time_pre;
print $exec_time; //prints 0.8 seconds