I would imagine there are some situation in which bitwise would be optimal... couldn't one then simply comment the code for the next developer whom may have to manage the code?

I wouldn't recommend using bitwise operators in production code they are really hard to understand and debug. I had hard time debugging production code that utilized bitwise operators.

clever use of mapping :)

very clever! Almost artistic, I'd say :)

Just amazing. Looking for the opportunity of using the ~~ (first time I see it being used like that)