From: Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca>
To: rms@gnu.org
Cc: Achim Gratz <Stromeko@nexgo.de>, emacs-devel@gnu.org
Subject: Re: random doesn't feel very random
Date: Mon, 27 Aug 2012 00:48:47 -0400 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <jwvr4qtkkpr.fsf-monnier+emacs@gnu.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <E1T5qCP-0001eb-Mt@fencepost.gnu.org> (Richard Stallman's message of "Sun, 26 Aug 2012 23:41:13 -0400")
> 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
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2012-08-27 4:48 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 43+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2012-08-24 5:47 random doesn't feel very random Ivan Kanis
2012-08-24 6:22 ` Tassilo Horn
2012-08-24 17:19 ` random doesn't feel very random, random doesn't feel very random, " Ivan Kanis
2012-08-24 18:50 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2012-08-25 7:46 ` Ivan Kanis
2012-08-24 6:30 ` Leo
2012-08-24 22:48 ` Richard Stallman
2012-08-24 22:57 ` Andreas Schwab
2012-08-25 20:55 ` Richard Stallman
2012-08-25 23:25 ` Leo
2012-08-26 13:12 ` Richard Stallman
2012-08-26 14:24 ` Achim Gratz
2012-08-26 23:22 ` Leo
2012-08-27 0:50 ` Stefan Monnier
2012-08-27 6:31 ` Simon Leinen
2012-08-27 3:41 ` Richard Stallman
2012-08-27 4:48 ` Stefan Monnier [this message]
2012-08-31 9:41 ` Eli Zaretskii
2012-08-31 15:06 ` Stefan Monnier
2012-08-31 15:23 ` chad
2012-08-31 17:50 ` Eli Zaretskii
2012-08-31 19:43 ` Stefan Monnier
2012-09-01 1:18 ` Paul Eggert
2012-09-01 7:19 ` Achim Gratz
2012-09-01 13:19 ` Paul Eggert
2012-09-04 19:19 ` Nix
2012-09-04 20:07 ` Paul Eggert
2012-09-04 20:11 ` Nix
2012-09-02 12:27 ` Jason Rumney
2012-09-02 13:08 ` Stefan Monnier
2012-09-01 7:22 ` Ivan Kanis
2012-09-01 11:13 ` joakim
2012-08-31 23:04 ` Leo
2012-08-27 5:17 ` Achim Gratz
2012-08-31 9:42 ` Eli Zaretskii
2012-08-31 15:07 ` Stefan Monnier
2012-08-31 17:50 ` Eli Zaretskii
2012-08-26 9:06 ` Ivan Kanis
2012-08-24 7:03 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2012-08-24 9:10 ` Paul Eggert
2012-08-24 17:45 ` Stephen J. Turnbull
2012-08-24 12:45 ` OT: appropriateness of "random" for playlist generation (was: random doesn't feel very random) Jeremiah Dodds
2012-08-24 14:37 ` random doesn't feel very random Drew Adams
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