diff --git a/core/database.class.php b/core/database.class.php
index 53ed4b4d..6e8a0213 100644
--- a/core/database.class.php
+++ b/core/database.class.php
@@ -292,17 +292,17 @@ class Database {
 		$this->db->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE, PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION);
 
 		$db_proto = $this->db->getAttribute(PDO::ATTR_DRIVER_NAME);
-		if($db_proto == "mysql") {
+		if($db_proto === "mysql") {
 			$this->engine = new MySQL();
 		}
-		else if($db_proto == "pgsql") {
+		else if($db_proto === "pgsql") {
 			$this->engine = new PostgreSQL();
 		}
-		else if($db_proto == "sqlite") {
+		else if($db_proto === "sqlite") {
 			$this->engine = new SQLite();
 		}
 		else {
-			die("Unknown PDO driver: $db_proto");
+			die('Unknown PDO driver: '.$db_proto);
 		}
 
 		if(isset($cache_dsn) && !empty($cache_dsn)) {
@@ -345,8 +345,8 @@ class Database {
 			return $stmt;
 		}
 		catch(PDOException $pdoe) {
-			print "Message: ".$pdoe->getMessage();
-			print "<p>Error: $query";
+			print 'Message: '.$pdoe->getMessage();
+			print '<p>Error: '.$query;
 			exit;
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/core/imageboard.pack.php b/core/imageboard.pack.php
index 5f110f07..d07a571b 100644
--- a/core/imageboard.pack.php
+++ b/core/imageboard.pack.php
@@ -194,12 +194,12 @@ class Image {
 		}
 
 		if(count($tags) == 0) {
-			$row = $database->get_row("SELECT images.* FROM images WHERE images.id $gtlt {$this->id} ORDER BY images.id $dir LIMIT 1");
+			$row = $database->get_row('SELECT images.* FROM images WHERE images.id '.$gtlt.' '.$this->id.' ORDER BY images.id '.$dir.' LIMIT 1');
 		}
 		else {
-			$tags[] = "id$gtlt{$this->id}";
+			$tags[] = 'id'. $gtlt . $this->id;
 			$querylet = Image::build_search_querylet($tags);
-			$querylet->append_sql(" ORDER BY images.id $dir LIMIT 1");
+			$querylet->append_sql(' ORDER BY images.id '.$dir.' LIMIT 1');
 			$row = $database->get_row($querylet->sql, $querylet->variables);
 		}
 
@@ -229,14 +229,15 @@ class Image {
 	 */
 	public function get_tag_array() {
 		global $database;
-		$cached = $database->cache->get("image-{$this->id}-tags");
+		$tmp = 'image-'.$this->id.'-tags';
+		$cached = $database->cache->get($tmp);
 		if($cached) return $cached;
 
 		if(!isset($this->tag_array)) {
 			$this->tag_array = $database->get_col("SELECT tag FROM image_tags JOIN tags ON image_tags.tag_id = tags.id WHERE image_id=:id ORDER BY tag", array("id"=>$this->id));
 		}
 
-		$database->cache->set("image-{$this->id}-tags", $this->tag_array);
+		$database->cache->set($tmp, $this->tag_array);
 		return $this->tag_array;
 	}
 
diff --git a/core/util.inc.php b/core/util.inc.php
index 25e020f9..27ad46f2 100644
--- a/core/util.inc.php
+++ b/core/util.inc.php
@@ -21,6 +21,10 @@ function html_escape($input) {
  * @retval int
  */
 function int_escape($input) {
+	/*
+	 Side note, Casting to an integer is FASTER than using intval.
+	 http://hakre.wordpress.com/2010/05/13/php-casting-vs-intval/
+	*/
 	return (int)$input;
 }
 
@@ -56,13 +60,13 @@ function sql_escape($input) {
 function bool_escape($input) {
 	$input = strtolower($input);
 	return (
-		$input == "y" ||
-		$input == "yes" ||
-		$input == "t" ||
-		$input == "true" ||
-		$input == "on" ||
-		$input == 1 ||
-		$input == true
+		$input === "y" ||
+		$input === "yes" ||
+		$input === "t" ||
+		$input === "true" ||
+		$input === "on" ||
+		$input === 1 ||
+		$input === true
 	);
 }
 
@@ -86,7 +90,7 @@ function parse_shorthand_int($limit) {
 		return (int)$limit;
 	}
 
-	if(preg_match('/^([\d\.]+)([gmk])?b?$/i', "$limit", $m)) {
+	if(preg_match('/^([\d\.]+)([gmk])?b?$/i', (string)$limit, $m)) {
 		$value = $m[1];
 		if (isset($m[2])) {
 			switch(strtolower($m[2])) {
@@ -118,7 +122,7 @@ function to_shorthand_int($int) {
 		return sprintf("%.1fKB", $int / 1024);
 	}
 	else {
-		return "$int";
+		return (string)$int;
 	}
 }
 
@@ -131,7 +135,7 @@ function to_shorthand_int($int) {
 function autodate($date, $html=true) {
 	$cpu = date('c', strtotime($date));
 	$hum = date('F j, Y', strtotime($date));
-	return ($html ? "<time datetime='$cpu'>$hum</time>" : $hum);
+	return ($html ? '<time datetime='.$cpu.'>'.$hum.'</time>' : $hum);
 }
 
 
@@ -182,17 +186,17 @@ function make_link($page=null, $query=null) {
 	}
 
 	if(is_null($query)) {
-		return str_replace("//", "/", "$base/$page");
+		return str_replace("//", "/", $base.'/'.$page );
 	}
 	else {
 		if(strpos($base, "?")) {
-			return "$base/$page&$query";
+			return $base .'/'. $page .'&'. $query;
 		}
 		else if(strpos($query, "#") === 0) {
-			return "$base/$page$query";
+			return $base .'/'. $page . $query;
 		}
 		else {
-			return "$base/$page?$query";
+			return $base .'/'. $page .'?'. $query;
 		}
 	}
 }
@@ -261,14 +265,14 @@ function make_http($link) {
 function make_form($target, $method="POST", $multipart=False, $form_id="", $onsubmit="") {
 	global $user;
 	$auth = $user->get_auth_html();
-	$extra = empty($form_id) ? '' : " id='$form_id'";
+	$extra = empty($form_id) ? '' : 'id="'. $form_id .'"';
 	if($multipart) {
 		$extra .= " enctype='multipart/form-data'";
 	}
 	if($onsubmit) {
-		$extra .= " onsubmit='$onsubmit'";
+		$extra .= ' onsubmit="'.$onsubmit.'"';
 	}
-	return "<form action='$target' method='$method'$extra>$auth";
+	return '<form action="'.$target.'" method="'.$method.'" '.$extra.'>'.$auth;
 }
 
 /**
@@ -278,7 +282,7 @@ function make_form($target, $method="POST", $multipart=False, $form_id="", $onsu
 function theme_file($filepath) {
 	global $config;
 	$theme = $config->get_string("theme","default");
-	return make_link("themes/$theme/$filepath");
+	return make_link('themes/'.$theme.'/'.$filepath);
 }
 
 
@@ -411,12 +415,12 @@ function _count_execs($db, $sql, $inputarray) {
  */
 function get_theme_object(Extension $class, $fatal=true) {
 	$base = get_class($class);
-	if(class_exists("Custom{$base}Theme")) {
-		$class = "Custom{$base}Theme";
+	if(class_exists('Custom'.$base.'Theme')) {
+		$class = 'Custom'.$base.'Theme';
 		return new $class();
 	}
-	elseif ($fatal || class_exists("{$base}Theme")) {
-		$class = "{$base}Theme";
+	elseif ($fatal || class_exists($base.'Theme')) {
+		$class = $base.'Theme';
 		return new $class();
 	} else {
 		return false;
@@ -517,14 +521,14 @@ function get_base_href() {
 	$possible_vars = array('SCRIPT_NAME', 'PHP_SELF', 'PATH_INFO', 'ORIG_PATH_INFO');
 	$ok_var = null;
 	foreach($possible_vars as $var) {
-		if(substr($_SERVER[$var], -4) == '.php') {
+		if(substr($_SERVER[$var], -4) === '.php') {
 			$ok_var = $_SERVER[$var];
 			break;
 		}
 	}
 	assert(!empty($ok_var));
 	$dir = dirname($ok_var);
-	if($dir == "/" || $dir == "\\") $dir = "";
+	if($dir === "/" || $dir === "\\") $dir = "";
 	return $dir;
 }
 
@@ -544,10 +548,10 @@ function warehouse_path($base, $hash, $create=true) {
 	$ab = substr($hash, 0, 2);
 	$cd = substr($hash, 2, 2);
 	if(WH_SPLITS == 2) {
-		$pa = "$base/$ab/$cd/$hash";
+		$pa = $base.'/'.$ab.'/'.$cd.'/'.$hash;
 	}
 	else {
-		$pa = "$base/$ab/$hash";
+		$pa = $base.'/'.$ab.'/'.$hash;
 	}
 	if($create && !file_exists(dirname($pa))) mkdir(dirname($pa), 0755, true);
 	return $pa;
@@ -949,7 +953,7 @@ function _get_page_request() {
 	global $config;
 	$args = _get_query_parts();
 
-	if(count($args) == 0 || strlen($args[0]) == 0) {
+	if( empty($args) || strlen($args[0]) === 0) {
 		$args = explode('/', $config->get_string('front_page'));
 	}
 
@@ -1019,7 +1023,7 @@ function _start_cache() {
 			$_cache_hash = md5($_SERVER["QUERY_STRING"]);
 			$ab = substr($_cache_hash, 0, 2);
 			$cd = substr($_cache_hash, 2, 2);
-			$_cache_filename = "data/$ab/$cd/$_cache_hash";
+			$_cache_filename = 'data/'.$ab.'/'.$cd.'/'.$_cache_hash;
 
 			if(!file_exists(dirname($_cache_filename))) {
 				mkdir(dirname($_cache_filename), 0750, true);
@@ -1038,7 +1042,7 @@ function _start_cache() {
 				}
 				else {
 					header("Content-type: text/html");
-					header("Last-Modified: $gmdate_mod");
+					header('Last-Modified: '.$gmdate_mod);
 					$zdata = @file_get_contents($_cache_filename);
 					if(CACHE_MEMCACHE) {
 						$_cache_memcache->set($_cache_hash, $zdata, 0, 600);
@@ -1086,8 +1090,8 @@ function _end_coverage() {
 		if(!file_exists("data/coverage")) mkdir("data/coverage");
 		$n = 0;
 		$t = time();
-		while(file_exists("data/coverage/$t.$n.log")) $n++;
-		file_put_contents("data/coverage/$t.$n.log", serialize(xdebug_get_code_coverage()));
+		while(file_exists('data/coverage/'.$t.'.'.$n.'.log')) $n++;
+		file_put_contents('data/coverage/'.$t.'.'.$n.'.log', serialize(xdebug_get_code_coverage()));
 	}
 }
 ?>