C++ question

I feel like I want to write
i *= 2;
rather than
i << 1;

Is this natural for young kids my age? (+18)

Also, if N is a power of two,
n &= (N-1);
might be faster than
n %= N;
or, in languages like C99 where the sign of modulo is that of the dividend, which is completely stupid and counter-intuitive:
n = -((n % N) % -N)