IMO, bitmasks are a more interesting and useful example of "bit level" programming. This is all because of this statement: "Most compilers realize this and cha

IMO, bitmasks are a more interesting and useful example of "bit level" programming. This is all because of this statement: "Most compilers realize this and change our code to something like:" I agree that it's important that we know, and keep in mind, what is going on behind the curtain, but using bitwise operations that would otherwise be performed by the compiler introduces uneccessary complexity.