Back to Home11/18/2025, 9:03:59 AM

Why Software Systems Must Default to the Metric System

danielecr
1 points
1 comments

Mood

thoughtful

Sentiment

positive

Category

tech

Key topics

metric system

software development

optimization

Debate intensity10/100

The article argues that software systems should default to the metric system, and the discussion highlights the potential benefits, such as reduced CPU costs.

Snapshot generated from the HN discussion

Discussion Activity

Light discussion

First comment

N/A

Peak period

3

Hour 1

Avg / period

1.5

Comment distribution9 data points

Based on 9 loaded comments

Key moments

  1. 01Story posted

    11/18/2025, 9:03:59 AM

    12h ago

    Step 01
  2. 02First comment

    11/18/2025, 9:03:59 AM

    0s after posting

    Step 02
  3. 03Peak activity

    3 comments in Hour 1

    Hottest window of the conversation

    Step 03
  4. 04Latest activity

    11/18/2025, 2:32:34 PM

    7h ago

    Step 04

Generating AI Summary...

Analyzing up to 500 comments to identify key contributors and discussion patterns

Discussion (1 comments)
Showing 9 comments
danielecr
12h ago
1 reply
And how this can spare 2%-10% CPU costs on your system
smcin
12h ago
I don't believe the "2–10% CPU savings" claim for general computing, or servers. Only maybe for IoT devices. And you don't cite any source for that claim. What is your source?
timeon
12h ago
1 reply
> Most modern software still defaults to imperial units somewhere deep in its stack

I know that lot of software is produced in USA but one would expect more from software developers.

ansgri
11h ago
This is probably due to most software working with graphics somewhere (GUI, printing), and font sizes and resolutions are predominantly imperial (pt/dpi).
Someone
11h ago
2 replies
[delayed]
general1465
7h ago
If it has been designed in Silicon Valley, I would not be surprised by fallback on imperial units.
7bit
10h ago
Trust me bro
jjp
9h ago
1 reply
[delayed]
xscott
8h ago
Hours aren't SI/metric. That factor of 3600 makes any conversion to acceleration more ugly than it should be (rounding a curve for instance). And really, 30 meters/second would a nice human readable number.

Even in science though, the pros are happy to switch to electron volts or units where the speed of light equals 1.

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ID: 45962943Type: storyLast synced: 11/18/2025, 9:05:41 AM

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