title: Are bitwise operations still practical?
body: <p>Wikipedia, the one true source of knowledge, states:</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>On most older microprocessors, bitwise
    operations are slightly faster than
    addition and subtraction operations
    and usually significantly faster than
    multiplication and division
    operations. On modern architectures,
    this is not the case: bitwise
    operations are generally the same
    speed as addition (though still faster
    than multiplication).</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>Is there a practical reason to learn bitwise operation hacks or it is now just something you learn for theory and curiosity?</p>