I think the only people I've seen using these sorts of low-level techniques on a regular basis were electronic engineers who were writing embedded code (specifi

I think the only people I've seen using these sorts of low-level techniques on a regular basis were electronic engineers who were writing embedded code (specifically: for Wacom-style tablets). Then again, I've never worked with games programmers, but my friends who are games programmers don't seem to come near this level.