function unserialize (data) {
    // http://kevin.vanzonneveld.net
    // +     original by: Arpad Ray (mailto:arpad@php.net)
    // +     improved by: Pedro Tainha (http://www.pedrotainha.com)
    // +     bugfixed by: dptr1988
    // +      revised by: d3x
    // +     improved by: Kevin van Zonneveld (http://kevin.vanzonneveld.net)
    // +        input by: Brett Zamir (http://brett-zamir.me)
    // +     improved by: Kevin van Zonneveld (http://kevin.vanzonneveld.net)
    // +     improved by: Chris
    // +     improved by: James
    // +        input by: Martin (http://www.erlenwiese.de/)
    // +     bugfixed by: Kevin van Zonneveld (http://kevin.vanzonneveld.net)
    // +     improved by: Le Torbi
    // +     input by: kilops
    // +     bugfixed by: Brett Zamir (http://brett-zamir.me)
    // -      depends on: utf8_decode
    // %            note: We feel the main purpose of this function should be to ease the transport of data between php & js
    // %            note: Aiming for PHP-compatibility, we have to translate objects to arrays
    // *       example 1: unserialize('a:3:{i:0;s:5:"Kevin";i:1;s:3:"van";i:2;s:9:"Zonneveld";}');
    // *       returns 1: ['Kevin', 'van', 'Zonneveld']
    // *       example 2: unserialize('a:3:{s:9:"firstName";s:5:"Kevin";s:7:"midName";s:3:"van";s:7:"surName";s:9:"Zonneveld";}');
    // *       returns 2: {firstName: 'Kevin', midName: 'van', surName: 'Zonneveld'}
    var that = this;
    var utf8Overhead = function (chr) {
        // http://phpjs.org/functions/unserialize:571#comment_95906
        var code = chr.charCodeAt(0);
        if (code < 0x0080) {
            return 0;
        }
        if (code < 0x0800) {
            return 1;
        }
        return 2;
    };


    var error = function (type, msg, filename, line) {
        throw new that.window[type](msg, filename, line);
    };
    var read_until = function (data, offset, stopchr) {
        var buf = [];
        var chr = data.slice(offset, offset + 1);
        var i = 2;
        while (chr != stopchr) {
            if ((i + offset) > data.length) {
                error('Error', 'Invalid');
            }
            buf.push(chr);
            chr = data.slice(offset + (i - 1), offset + i);
            i += 1;
        }
        return [buf.length, buf.join('')];
    };
    var read_chrs = function (data, offset, length) {
        var buf;

        buf = [];
        for (var i = 0; i < length; i++) {
            var chr = data.slice(offset + (i - 1), offset + i);
            buf.push(chr);
            length -= utf8Overhead(chr);
        }
        return [buf.length, buf.join('')];
    };
    var _unserialize = function (data, offset) {
        var readdata;
        var readData;
        var chrs = 0;
        var ccount;
        var stringlength;
        var keyandchrs;
        var keys;

        if (!offset) {
            offset = 0;
        }
        var dtype = (data.slice(offset, offset + 1)).toLowerCase();

        var dataoffset = offset + 2;
        var typeconvert = function (x) {
            return x;
        };

        switch (dtype) {
        case 'i':
            typeconvert = function (x) {
                return parseInt(x, 10);
            };
            readData = read_until(data, dataoffset, ';');
            chrs = readData[0];
            readdata = readData[1];
            dataoffset += chrs + 1;
            break;
        case 'b':
            typeconvert = function (x) {
                return parseInt(x, 10) !== 0;
            };
            readData = read_until(data, dataoffset, ';');
            chrs = readData[0];
            readdata = readData[1];
            dataoffset += chrs + 1;
            break;
        case 'd':
            typeconvert = function (x) {
                return parseFloat(x);
            };
            readData = read_until(data, dataoffset, ';');
            chrs = readData[0];
            readdata = readData[1];
            dataoffset += chrs + 1;
            break;
        case 'n':
            readdata = null;
            break;
        case 's':
            ccount = read_until(data, dataoffset, ':');
            chrs = ccount[0];
            stringlength = ccount[1];
            dataoffset += chrs + 2;

            readData = read_chrs(data, dataoffset + 1, parseInt(stringlength, 10));
            chrs = readData[0];
            readdata = readData[1];
            dataoffset += chrs + 2;
            if (chrs != parseInt(stringlength, 10) && chrs != readdata.length) {
                error('SyntaxError', 'String length mismatch');
            }

            // Length was calculated on an utf-8 encoded string
            // so wait with decoding
            readdata = that.utf8_decode(readdata);
            break;
        case 'a':
            readdata = {};

            keyandchrs = read_until(data, dataoffset, ':');
            chrs = keyandchrs[0];
            keys = keyandchrs[1];
            dataoffset += chrs + 2;

            for (var i = 0; i < parseInt(keys, 10); i++) {
                var kprops = _unserialize(data, dataoffset);
                var kchrs = kprops[1];
                var key = kprops[2];
                dataoffset += kchrs;

                var vprops = _unserialize(data, dataoffset);
                var vchrs = vprops[1];
                var value = vprops[2];
                dataoffset += vchrs;

                readdata[key] = value;
            }

            dataoffset += 1;
            break;
        default:
            error('SyntaxError', 'Unknown / Unhandled data type(s): ' + dtype);
            break;
        }
        return [dtype, dataoffset - offset, typeconvert(readdata)];
    };

    return _unserialize((data + ''), 0)[2];
}
