OK, so we can dismiss any kind of for-loop – far too slow, so that leaves us with:
1) array.concat() – i.e. concatenate an array onto nothing and deliver that as a new array.
2) array.slice(0) – i.e. return a new array consisting of all of the elements of the old array – from 0 till the end (up to a max of 16777215)

I’ve set up an array with a cool 1million entries (ok, it is not big, and it is not clever so it certainly isn’t cool). I need to copy this. The following code executes each method once on every iteration. It keeps a running total and records the average time each takes. I’ve limited the code to 100 iterations.

package
{
import flash.display.Sprite;
import flash.events.Event;
import flash.events.MouseEvent;
import flash.text.TextField;
import flash.utils.*;
public class TestConcat extends Sprite
{
private var iteration_count:int=0
private var concat_total:int=0
private var slice_total:int=0
private var clone_total:int=0
private var tf:TextField = new TextField()
private var test_array:Array = [];

public function TestConcat():void
{
tf.x = tf.y = 100; tf.width = 600;
addChild(tf)

//Set up array to copy
for(var i:int = 0; i < 1000000; i++) test_array.push(i);
//Mouse click to rerun test
stage.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, go);
//First run
go()
}

private function go(e:Event = null):void
{
iteration_count=concat_total=slice_total=clone_total=0
addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, iterate)
}

//Loop through tests
private function iterate(e:Event=null):void
{
concat_total +=testConcat()
slice_total += testSlice()
clone_total += testByteArrayClone()
iteration_count++
tf.text = "Av. Concat time=" + (concat_total / iteration_count)
+ "ms Av. Slice time=" + (slice_total / iteration_count)
+ "ms Av. BA Clone time=" + (clone_total / iteration_count) + "ms";
if(iteration_count<99) removeEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME,iterate)
}

//test array slice
private function testSlice():int
{
var time_slice_start:Number = getTimer();
var slice_copy:Array = test_array.slice(0);
return getTimer()-time_slice_start
}

//test array concat
private function testConcat():int
{
var time_concat_start:Number = getTimer();
var concat_copy:Array = test_array.concat();
return getTimer()-time_concat_start
}

//test BA Clone method
private function testByteArrayClone():int
{
var time_concat_start:Number = getTimer();
var concat_copy:Array = clone(test_array);
return getTimer()-time_concat_start
}

//Clone method for Deep Objects(via Bruno)
private function clone(source:Object):*
{
var myBA:ByteArray = new ByteArray();
myBA.writeObject(source);
myBA.position = 0;
return(myBA.readObject());
}
}
}

On my laptop I’m clocking the concat at 14ms and the slice at over 29ms.

So a conclusive result. concat is twice the speed (with large arrays – the difference diminishes considerably with smaller arrays)

Give the code a few run throughs and see what you get. Let me know if your results are markedly different.

UPDATED:
I have updated the code and added a swf to try out here and the source code here

Test the array copy for yourself

Demo: Array Copy test
Source: Source.as