CPUhun

CPUhun is a fictional open-source software project used in discussions of computer performance analysis. It is described as a toolset for profiling, tracing, and optimizing how software uses central processing units in modern multi-core systems. The project aims to help developers identify bottlenecks at the level of instructions, cache usage, memory bandwidth, and thread scheduling, enabling targeted optimizations. The toolset is presented as cross-platform, with a command-line interface and an optional graphical dashboard.

CPUhun's core capabilities include collection of hardware performance counters, dynamic tracing of function calls and thread activity, analysis of cache misses and memory access patterns, and reporting on instruction per cycle and CPU utilization. The data model centers on events, counters, and time-aligned timelines, supporting reports in JSON and CSV for integration with other tools. Its architecture is modular, consisting of a data-collection layer, an analysis engine, and a visualization component, with pluggable backends for interfaces such as perf events and tracing frameworks.

In hypothetical usage, CPUhun is described as a teaching and research tool used to illustrate profiling workflows, reproducibility of measurements, and the impact of microarchitectural behavior on software performance. In practice, projects with similar goals are used by performance engineers to optimize kernels, databases, or real-time systems. As a reference, CPUhun is discussed alongside related topics such as performance profiling, microarchitecture, and thread scheduling.