Benchmark: timing 25000 iterations of mine-elegant, mine-less-elegant, original, original++...
mine-elegant:  8 wallclock secs ( 8.20 usr +  0.00 sys =  8.20 CPU) @ 3048.78/s (n=25000)
mine-less-elegant:  6 wallclock secs ( 5.64 usr +  0.01 sys =  5.65 CPU) @ 4424.78/s (n=25000)
  original:  9 wallclock secs ( 9.29 usr +  0.00 sys =  9.29 CPU) @ 2691.07/s (n=25000)
original++:  9 wallclock secs ( 9.33 usr +  0.00 sys =  9.33 CPU) @ 2679.53/s (n=25000)

Benchmark: timing 25000 iterations of mine-elegant, mine-less-elegant, original, original++...
mine-elegant:  9 wallclock secs ( 8.67 usr +  0.00 sys =  8.67 CPU) @ 2883.51/s (n=25000)
mine-less-elegant:  8 wallclock secs ( 6.11 usr +  0.05 sys =  6.16 CPU) @ 4058.44/s (n=25000)
  original:  9 wallclock secs ( 8.67 usr +  0.01 sys =  8.68 CPU) @ 2880.18/s (n=25000)
original++:  9 wallclock secs ( 8.72 usr +  0.01 sys =  8.73 CPU) @ 2863.69/s (n=25000)

Benchmark: timing 25000 iterations of mine-elegant, mine-less-elegant, original, original++...
mine-elegant:  9 wallclock secs ( 8.40 usr +  0.00 sys =  8.40 CPU) @ 2976.19/s (n=25000)
mine-less-elegant:  6 wallclock secs ( 5.22 usr +  0.02 sys =  5.24 CPU) @ 4770.99/s (n=25000)
  original:  9 wallclock secs ( 8.33 usr +  0.00 sys =  8.33 CPU) @ 3001.20/s (n=25000)
original++:  8 wallclock secs ( 7.88 usr +  0.02 sys =  7.90 CPU) @ 3164.56/s (n=25000)