private static String generateValues(int size) {
        StringBuilder b = new StringBuilder("{");
        for (int i=0; i<size; i++)
            b.append("a").append(i).append(":").append(i+1).append(",");
        b.setLength(b.length() - 1);
        b.append("}");
        return b.toString();
    }
A benchmark of map parsing.
Expected time on Jon's mac: 200 microseconds per 1k size map.

@author bratseth
vespajlib/src/test/java/com/yahoo/text/MapParserMicroBenchmark.java