Benchmark PHP object creation

object_benchmark.php

<?php
function benchmark($description, $fn, $iterations = 10000000) {
    $start = microtime(true);

    for ($i = 0; $i < $iterations; $i++) {
        $fn();
    }

    $elapsed = microtime(true) - $start;

    echo "Elapsed time ({$description}): {$elapsed}\n";
}

benchmark('new stdClass', function() {
    $o = new stdClass();
});

benchmark('cast null to object', function() {
    $o = (object) null;
});

results

[sleekslush ~]$ php object_benchmark.php 
Elapsed time (new stdClass): 4.9088141918182
Elapsed time (cast null to object): 3.5254530906677
[sleekslush ~]$