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Re: random doesn't feel very random
From: |
Stefan Monnier |
Subject: |
Re: random doesn't feel very random |
Date: |
Mon, 27 Aug 2012 00:48:47 -0400 |
User-agent: |
Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/24.2.50 (gnu/linux) |
> It is a feature that, if you don't call (random t), `random' returns
> a predictable sequence. That is good for debugging.
I wonder how often this has been useful. Since most/any package that
uses `random' will want the sequence to be unpredictable, many packages
call (random t) at various times, so before you can benefit from such
a feature, you'll need to disable those (random t) that would otherwise
get in the way.
It would be much simpler to always seed the PRNG at startup from
"unpredictable" data and then provide a (random-seed N) which you can
call explicitly to reset the PRNG to a predictable state if/when you
need it for debugging.
> Perhaps we should create a different interface for that feature
> and make the default truly random.
Exactly (for some value of "truly random").
Stefan
- Re: random doesn't feel very random, (continued)
- Re: random doesn't feel very random, Richard Stallman, 2012/08/24
- Re: random doesn't feel very random, Andreas Schwab, 2012/08/24
- Re: random doesn't feel very random, Richard Stallman, 2012/08/25
- Re: random doesn't feel very random, Leo, 2012/08/25
- Re: random doesn't feel very random, Richard Stallman, 2012/08/26
- Re: random doesn't feel very random, Achim Gratz, 2012/08/26
- Re: random doesn't feel very random, Leo, 2012/08/26
- Re: random doesn't feel very random, Stefan Monnier, 2012/08/26
- Re: random doesn't feel very random, Simon Leinen, 2012/08/27
- Re: random doesn't feel very random, Richard Stallman, 2012/08/26
- Re: random doesn't feel very random,
Stefan Monnier <=
- Re: random doesn't feel very random, Eli Zaretskii, 2012/08/31
- Re: random doesn't feel very random, Stefan Monnier, 2012/08/31
- Re: random doesn't feel very random, chad, 2012/08/31
- Re: random doesn't feel very random, Eli Zaretskii, 2012/08/31
- Re: random doesn't feel very random, Stefan Monnier, 2012/08/31
- Re: random doesn't feel very random, Paul Eggert, 2012/08/31
- Re: random doesn't feel very random, Leo, 2012/08/31
- Re: random doesn't feel very random, Achim Gratz, 2012/08/27
- Re: random doesn't feel very random, Eli Zaretskii, 2012/08/31
- Re: random doesn't feel very random, Stefan Monnier, 2012/08/31