>If I remeber well there is an article in Calvin Hsia's BLOG about STORE vs =. Unfortunately I can't find it now :o(. There he explain why STORE is fsster then [=]. It is because [=] has more operations to do. [=] operator must have logic to see if you want to STORE value to a variable or you want just to compare values.
I would have thought that such a thing should be resolved at compile time, i.e. the comparison and the assignment being converted to different intermediate code.
But yes, that may very well be the reason for the speed difference.
Difference in opinions hath cost many millions of lives: for instance, whether flesh be bread, or bread be flesh; whether whistling be a vice or a virtue; whether it be better to kiss a post, or throw it into the fire... (from Gulliver's Travels)