Steven Schveighoffer wrote:
For example, there is no possible way a person unfamiliar with computers
That's a valid argument if you're writing a spreadsheet program. But programmers should be familiar with computers, and most definitely should be familiar with 2's complement arithmetic.
Similarly, if you do much with floating point, you should be familiar with "What Every Computer Scientist Should Know About Floating-Point Arithmetic"
http://docs.sun.com/source/806-3568/ncg_goldberg.html
