title: DateTime class vs. native PHP date-functions
body: <p>The DateTime class sure has some handy methods and seems overall superior to the native PHP date functions like <code>strtotime</code>, <code>mktime</code> and <code>strftime</code> (and more). But is there any drawback or a reason why I shouldn't use it ?</p>
  
  <p>The only reason I can think of is that it might be more expensive to create a whole instance of a class than just using a function. </p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>Would you agree with that ?</li>
  <li>Does it make sense at all to use a DateTime object for simple stuff?</li>
  <li>Are there any other drawbacks ?</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>It seems a bit confusing to switch between those two options all the time, so I'd like to have clearance what I should prefer doing.</p>
  
  <p>Two examples for my decision would be:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>Converting a date to a localized value </li>
  <li>Calculating the time between two dates</li>
  </ul>