Submission timeline
2007–2026One slot for every year since HN launched. Height is that year's peak points; orange marks a 100+ point or 50+ comment breakout. Select a bar to open its strongest thread.
First comments on top threads
HN comment orderI respect Brendan, and although it is an interesting article, I have to disagree with him: The OS tells you about OS CPU utilization, not CPU micro-architecture functional unit utilization. So if the OS uses a CPU for running code until a physical interrupt or a software trap happens, in that period the CPU has been doing work. Unless the CPU could be able to do a "free" context switch to a cached area not having to wait for e.g…
I love Brendan's article about load averages but I feel like this is missing the mark. A core, or an execution unit stalling within a core, still count as busy. I.e. the CPU can't process something else. The utilization metric is correct. The question of whether a CPU be used more efficiently is in the domain of optimization. It might be executing NOPs and not stalling. It could be using an O(N^3) algorithm instead of O(N).
Related recent discussion: "%CPU utilization is a lie". https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45110688
Just installed tiptop(1) to play around locally and it seems to work - neat.
The first top-level comment from each of the four biggest threads, in HN’s own order. Excerpts are shortened; open a comment for full context.
- Breakout years
- 2
- Total points
- 763
- Total comments
- 154
100+ points or 50+ comments
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
Every submission
| Date | Title as submitted | By | Points | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-05-09 | CPU Utilization is WrongFirst breakout · Best thread | dmit | 624 | 91 |
| 2018-08-29 | CPU Utilization is Wrong | dqpb | 2 | 0 |
| 2020-07-13 | CPU Utilization Is Wrong | madprops | 3 | 1 |
| 2023-07-03 | CPU Utilization Is Wrong | xk3 | 94 | 57 |
| 2025-09-08 | CPU Utilization is Wrong (2017)Hall induction · Latest 20+ point return | adityaathalye | 40 | 5 |