my %tests = (
   split    => q{ my @a = split //, $buf;             },
   regex    => q{ my @a = $buf =~ /./sg;              },
   unpack_C => q{ my @a = map chr, unpack 'C*', $buf; },
   unpack_a => q{ my @a = unpack '(a)*', $buf;        },
   rev_chop => q{ my @a = reverse map chop($buf), 1..length($buf); },
   chop => q{ my @a; $a[ $_ ] = chop $buffer for length($buffer) .. 0; },
);