From: fc@all.net (Dr. Frederick B. Cohen)
Date: Fri, 25 Aug 95 04:45:44 PDT
To: Piete.Brooks@cl.cam.ac.uk (Piete Brooks)
Subject: improving the distributed computation
In-Reply-To: <"swan.cl.cam.:226410:950825111043"@cl.cam.ac.uk>
Message-ID: <9508251143.AA15702@all.net>
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I thought I might give some free (an worth it) advice on the next round
of attempts.  This distributed computation is somewhat related to viral
computation, and I have learned a few things over the years that may be
helpful in doing a better job of it.

1) Abandon the central command way of doing things.  Little if any
communication is required for this computation, it should be
self-distributing to and between volenteer sites.  That makes it ideal
for implementation as a safe virus. 

2) Give these computations a defined and limited lifetime.  The problem
you have with old versions is because they don't die automatically or
even check to see if they are up-to-date and update themselves.

3) Use randomness to break up the search space and redundantly perform
the computation.  This should eliminate the problems with malicious
key-space requests, etc.

4) Use feedback in the form of selective survival/replication to
optimize the search and allocate search space.  If a processor goes
quickly, give it more to do - if it goes slowly, give it less.  This
will produce an overall system that adapts with time to the cahges in
network and system usage so as to optimize overall performance as a
function of time.

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