On 3 Feb 2001, at 7:18, mohk wrote:
> >Win32Prime would be the correct name to use there since the name
> >reflects what platform it runs on.
I guess Prime95 comes from the "good old days" when Win95 was new and
unqualified program names were expected to be 16-bit Win 3.x
applications. BTW there still is a Win 3.x version of this program -
I wonder if anyone's still using it???
But my vote's _against_ changing the name just for the sake of
tracking fashion. What the program does is far more important than
its name. We also have to bear in mind that some of the more obvious
names have been picked up by other programs.
> >(It seems we need a new prime or nice milestone now. The list is
> >virtually dead :( )
OK, go find us one ;-)
>
> I thought a voting creates a new discussion, about increcements, odds
> etc. C'mon ppl, wake up and give a comment about improving the prime95
> proggi.
We need to remember what the function of the program is. It's
designed to run unobtrusively in the background, and to have a low
administrative overhead (be easy to set up, and easy to maintain).
>From this point of view, the existing program does an excellent job,
it's really hard to see how it could be significantly improved.
George has announced the development of new FFT code optimised for
Pentium 4. The FFT code is the true heart of the program: it's really
hard for me to put into words just how much we all owe to George for
his unstinting efforts to make the program as efficient as it is.
Suffice it to say that, without George's input, we would probably be
two or three Mersenne primes short of where we actually are.
Nothing built by human hands is perfect, so, sure, the program could
be improved! Personally I'd like to see an optimization for Athlon;
at the expense of having to load different versions for different
processor types, I'd like to see seperate "streamlined" versions of
the code optimized for different processor types rather than one
monolithic program with everything embedded in it; and I'd like to
see the client/server security code somehow "opened", to facilitate
the integration of non-Intel clients into PrimeNet, but without
sacrificing the trust we have that results have really been computed.
With increasing exponent size (and therefore run time), I'd like to
see PrimeNet evolve to track intermediate residues & also to be able
to coordinate parallel LL testing & double-checking, so that runs
which are going wrong can be stopped for investigation without having
to be run through to the end.
Some people have indicated they'd like a version of the program with
a pretty screen-saver interface. Fair enough, provided we can keep
the "classic" version without the extra overhead.
Probably the easiest improvement to make is to have the documentation
translated into some other languages; unfortunately I can't help
here, as my command of languages other than English is very poor.
However, having a copy of README.TXT and the explanatory web pages
available in one's own native language would almost certainly help to
popularise the program worldwide. I'm thinking of (in no particular
order) French, German, Spanish, Japanese - and Chinese, if there is a
variant which is standard enough to be useful. Please excuse my
ignorance on this last point. And, of course, any other language for
which we can find a willing translator :-)
Regards
Brian Beesley
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