Benchmark: timing 1000000 iterations of Grep, Max, Ternary... Grep: 13 wallclock secs ( 9.12 usr + 0.01 sys = 9.13 CPU) Max: 36 wallclock secs (26.21 usr + 0.02 sys = 26.23 CPU) Ternary: 35 wallclock secs (26.66 usr + 0.04 sys = 26.70 CPU)