I'm trying to walk my way through the process by which a miner hashes.

Let's say the getwork request returns a data field of: 0000000244de6ceba49e1c8d438c0d8c584eefd9c8590545bfdfbf380000025c00000000fb3a091de1b4bbe5dc7acfe6bdacbc3fc3bb09bf1030adef8e2854db1b6ac42f5075c0051a057e08456c6f69000000800000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000080020000

As far as I understand, the first step is to calculate the midstate. To do this, we first take the first half of the data string: 0000000244de6ceba49e1c8d438c0d8c584eefd9c8590545bfdfbf380000025c00000000fb3a091de1b4bbe5dc7acfe6bdacbc3fc3bb09bf1030adef8e2854db

We then reverse the endianness of each 32-bit unsigned int (represented as 8 hex digits in the string), yielding: 02000000eb6cde448d1c9ea48c0d8c43d9ef4e58450559c838bfdfbf5c020000000000001d093afbe5bbb4e1e6cf7adc3fbcacbdbf09bbc3efad3010db54288e

Next we transform this into sixteen 32-bit unsigned ints: 33554432, 3949780548, 2367463076, 2349698115, 3656339032, 1157978568, 952098751, 1543634944, 0, 487144187, 3854284001, 3872357084, 1069329597, 3205086147, 4021104656, 3679725710

We then input this int array into SHA-256's internal function, with the second input being the eight 32-bit numbers given on page 13 of the SHA-256 specs.

The output of this preliminary hash yields the following eight 32-bit ints as our midstate: 3045448562, 361056177, 1940413978, 3803584651, 1661283772, 3478943551, 2906109005, 300125848

From this point on, I'm not sure how correct the steps are. Corrections are greatly appreciated!

Next, we look at the second half of the input string: 1b6ac42f5075c0051a057e08456c6f69000000800000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000080020000

Once again, we reverse the endianness, as everything is an 8-character hex string representing 32-bit unsigned ints: 2fc46a1b05c07550087e051a696f6c45800000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000280

Now, we break this up into sixteen 32-bit ints: 801401371, 96499024, 142476570, 1768909893, 2147483648, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 640

The fifth number (21474836481) should be the nonce, according to this description.

(Why isn't this nonce zero?)

Now, starting at the given nonce, we use the SHA-256 function to hash the sixteen 32-bit ints from the second half of the data, using the midstate as the other eight int inputs. This yields: 3993002029, 2278477219, 3977673643, 191934125, 2075691039, 4115259165, 601235791, 2598049038

Now, what do I use as inputs for the second hash function in the "double-hash"? Or did calculating the midstate count as the first hash computation?

And when the nonce overflows, should I submit another getwork request or wait until I've checked the nonces in the range of [0, original_nonce_value)? (Assuming my analysis that the given nonce is 21474836481 is correct?)

Lastly, if our target value from the getwork request is: ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff00000000

We need to switch the endianness of this value, yielding: 00000000ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff

And then we convert this to eight 32-bit unsigned ints, yielding: 0, 4294967295, 4294967295, 4294967295, 4294967295, 4294967295, 4294967295, 4294967295

And I believe after the second SHA-256 hash we should have eight 32-bit unsigned ints. Lastly, we should compare these eight output ints against our eight target ints (from left to right in the array, so comparing output[0] against the target's 0, then output[1] against 4294967295, etc.) and if our output is less than the target, we convert our eight int values to hex strings, switch the endianness, concatenate them in the same order (output[0]'s hex string is the first set of eight characters), and submit it back to the pool server in a getwork completion POST.

How much of this is correct, and where am I misinterpreting the protocol?

All help is appreciated; thanks so much!