[MLUG] Help with computing project

[Stephen Montgomery-Smith <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

I am in a competition to find the best solution to the "DARTS" problem
described at 
http://members.aol.com/DrMWEcker/Contest.html
This problem requires raw computer power, and I am using many computers
to work on it.  The first prize is $100 which I will be donating to the
University.

Now I am slipping into second place, and I was wondering if you guys
could help me.  If you could untar the attachment and run the created
program, it will help me do the computations faster.  The program will
contact the host computer, collect a part of the problem to work on, and
return the solution when it is finished.  (So it is required to run the
program on a computer connected to the internet.)  The program seems to
work on Linux and FreeBSD.

To create the program, after downloading the attachment, type
tar xvfz darts-client.tar.gz
cd darts-client
make
./darts-client

The program will start working in the background.  It has a very low
priority, so any other computer tasks will take precedence.  You can
kill the program at any time - it will not adversely affect the project.

Obviously you should only run this program if you are absolutely sure
that you have full authority to do so on that computer.  Also, if you
are on a computer with several accounts, maybe you should first check to
see if someone else is running the program - it does not help to have
several versions of the program running (unless that computer has more
than one processor).  In particular, please don't run the program on the
GCB labs.

Also, if anyone manages to look at the code and can find improvements,
that would be great.  (I have worked hard to remove buffer overflows and
such like, but if you see any of these, please tell me.)

Thanks, Stephen

-- 
Stephen Montgomery-Smith
EMAIL:PROTECTED
http://www.math.missouri.edu/~stephen

darts-client.tar.gz