[Sabyre]

I've even seen car manuals suggest that when stopping to put the car in neutral and let the clutch out while braking to reduce wear on the splines.

I am a down shifter. I'm not sure I could break that habit. I don't compression break, but I do select the gears on my way down. All the way to first gear. In a performance situation I will compression break. It is the quickest way to "get back on her" after a corner. A nice deceleration then she's right where you want her when you pick back up.