Gladiator algorithms
Nice account of Grid Wars II, a competition to design an algorithm capable of out-competing other algos for control of processor time -- I assume that just nice-ing all the competition way down isn't allowed.In each battle, programs fought to gain control of processing power in a huge parallel computer.Link Discuss (Thanks, Henson!)Besides giving computer scientists an excuse to tear themselves away from their terminals the contest also has scientific merit, according to some contestants. "Grid Wars gave me the opportunity to test my algorithm," says Mark Wenig, one of the finalists from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "It is a perfect environment to test and compare different approaches."
The contest began with 236 different programs, submitted by universities, government research departments and software companies from around the world. The objective of each entrant was to fight for control of 2500 computer processors.
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Cory Doctorow
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