A probabilistic algorithm for computing minimum weights of large error-correcting codes

An algorithm is developed that can be used to find, with a very low probability of error (10/sup -100/ or less in many cases), the minimum weights of codes far too large to be treated by any known exact algorithm. The probabilistic method is used to find minimum weights of all extended quadratic residue codes of length 440 or less. The probabilistic algorithm is presented for binary codes, but it can be generalized to codes over GF(q) with q>2.>