&gt; ...I think bit shifting a string to write to a file is pretty unreadable...<p>If you have a fundamental misunderstanding of the meaning of an operator, it&#x27;s pretty easy to fail to correctly read a section of code.<p>Maybe you&#x27;re someone who hates operator overloading. If so, that&#x27;s a pity. It&#x27;s a useful power tool. [0]<p>[0] Yes, all power tools can be abused. That conversation is tired and not worth revisiting.