While you're at it... long ago, I measured the if against assignment, and the assignment won... But that was back in VFP 5 or 6, so... can you compare this to your other measurements?

kcString = REPLICATE("a",100)
a=SECONDS()
FOR y = 1 TO 100000
	lcstring = ""
	lcComma=""
	for x = 1 to 10
	  lcString = m.lcString + lcComma+kcString
	  lcComma=", "
	endfor
ENDFOR y
?"create comma each time",SECONDS()-m.a