Load, operate, store is the correct way to access a hardware register, except when it's not. Some hardware has side effects when reading from or writing to a hardware port. On some devices, using bit-manipulation instructions is the correct way to do things.

No, the C standard does not guarantee that bit fields are implemented in a portable way, but if a compiler is not optimizing correctly, that's the fault of a broken compiler, not C.

If you are accessing hardware registers using bit-mapped structures, then yes, you need to understand the machine code being spit out by the compiler.

Really? Are you saying it's not possible to have a Null Pointer Exception in Java? Hmm...

That's not C. What is this "foreach()" you speak of?

Well then kudos to the evolution devs for sticking up to their principles, and a reminder to myself to have no sympathy for the lack of adoption of their product.

Very apropos; this is a perfect example of the type of self-righteousness that drives people away from a FLOSS project.

Amen to this. If your goal is to get your ideas implemented, you need to be able to accept them being known as your boss's ideas.

This is my exact experience as well. I couldn't convince the customer service rep that their "system" also showed that I was an Internet customer for 2 years before they started trying to charge me a modem rental fee. How was I receiving service before that time? Did their system show me ordering a modem? Did their system show them shipping me a modem? All of these questions fell on deaf ears.

After cancelling service with them, their automated phone service would no longer recognize my account number as an active account, but then 4 months later the attempted billings for not returning this mystery modem began again.

The very helpful person I chatted with on their website last month assures me the problem is fixed. We'll see about that.

I wouldn't consider your journey done just yet.

If your experience pans out like mine has, in about 4 months you will start getting e-mails and letters from Comcast attempting to bill you for the equipment you haven't returned yet.

Attempting to explain that you don't have any more equipment to return, will get you empty promises that they will fix the error in their computers, along with another e-mail and bill next month.

In my case, they continue to attempt to bill me $70 for a cable modem that I have never rented from them. Their system still shows a credit of $42 they owe me, but no one seems to know when that money will be returned to me, 6 months after cancelling.

If I never hear from them again, I'll consider it $42 well spent.

Well, yeah, but now it's got the Ribbon of Suck.

$45/hour * 40 hours * 52 weeks = $93,600/year. I'm sure where your message goes from there... is $45/hour "not too high", or is $90k an "incredibly high" salary?

You forgot the following steps:
0a: Learn what Dropbox is.
0b: Find Dropbox on the web without being suckered into look-alike advertisements and link farms.
0c: Download the installer from Dropbox's website.
0d: Execute installer and navigate Windows' UAC restrictions.
0e: Create Dropbox account, along with reading/skipping EULA. (Optional: Visit DropBox's website every 90 days to stay on top of any changes to their EULA, verify they haven't had any new breaches that might require a password change, or that the free account quota hasn't been exceeded.
0f: Learn how to create a folder to sync with Dropbox.
0g: Learn how to find said folder again.
0h: Learn to using Windows' file search functions to glean the cat videos from the grandkids e-mails which now all live in one folder.

Other than that, yeah, pretty much single click. I'm really not trying to be snarky here; my dad's on about this level. About three times a year I have to walk him through the differences between single-click, double click, shift click, and right click. Also why files that he's dragged from a folder to the desktop are no longer in the folder.

"THIS IS THE RESULT OF CAPITALISM."

Is that better?

Amen to this. Don't look at this as the last chance to be a child, look at it as the first chance to be an adult. Instead of looking at college as your last chance to avoid responsibility, use it as a chance to learn a little responsibility and ease into the idea of being a Grown Up.

Working during college is a reasonable thing. If you have a scholarship or the Bank of Mom & Dad is funding your education, bully for you; but having even a part-time job during school means that priorities must be set and time must be managed.

Much better to hit the ground running after graduation and not be shocked at the idea of needing to be at work 8-5 every day.

Just picking nits here, but $50/hr != $120,000/year.

You don't know that. If you're convinced your self-directed learning over those four years was more productive than a four-year degree could have been, there's two possible reasons for that: 1) Your school was not well-managed, or 2) you have an incredible drive and a knack for picking the right things to learn.

Of course, the boatload of money you would have spent on the degree is worth considering too. Glad it worked out for you.