In message <199602172002.MAA09152@netcom20.netcom.com>, maruishi@netcom.com wrote:
I was trying to think of a way to come up with true random numbers... And knowing a bit of UNIX socket TCP/IP programming I made a small little program that generates random numbers by measuring the mili-second timing ies a TCP packet to bounce back, from another network. My program simply send some data to port 7 (echo port) of a network on an i nternal list. Then timing it, randomly picks a different network to send to.
Interesting idea. Trends may be externally visible, You would probably want to normalize it, and you would find that there was quite a few deterministic elements of network load -> delay. Oh, did I mention clock granularity? In short you really aren't going to get 'random numbers' from such a scheme, but that's not to say you couldn't have fun playing with it, you might even find some use for the ways of calculating immediate network load around a node. Especially with regard to interception of packets and allowing for time discrepancies whilst doing so. Altogether off topic, but could maybe be developed into an idea with, maybe a 30% change of being Perrygrammed. Keep working. <invisible to perry> Bounce me the code, could be interesting </invisible to perry> -- Packrat (BSc/BE;COSO;Wombat Admin) Nihil illegitemi carborvndvm.