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From: beard@ux5.lbl.gov (Patrick C Beard)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: Random() from with AfterDark (was Re: System Error 389)
Message-ID: <10063@dog.ee.lbl.gov>
Date: 19 Feb 91 23:31:00 GMT
References: <1991Feb18.221718.9087@portia.Stanford.EDU> <91050.080755CXT105@psuvm.psu.edu>
Reply-To: beard@ux5 (Patrick C Beard)
Organization: Berkeley Systems, Inc.
Lines: 26
X-Local-Date: Tue, 19 Feb 91 15:31:00 PST

In article <91050.080755CXT105@psuvm.psu.edu> CXT105@psuvm.psu.edu (Christopher Tate) writes:
#In article <1991Feb18.221718.9087@portia.Stanford.EDU>,
#ralphm@portia.Stanford.EDU (Ralph Melton) inquires:
#
#>One last question:  Is it inappropriate for me to call Random from within
#>an After Dark module?  I realize that, since I don't have globals, if I
#>call Random, I am stepping on the RandSeed global of someone else's
#>A5 world.  But RandSeed is supposed to contain a pseudorandom number.
#>If I replace it with a different pseudorandom number, will I give any
#>program problems?
#
#You might want to put in your own random number seed, and then replace
#the original contents of randSeed after calling Random().  If you just
#trash the randSeed, it's certainly conceivable that you will interfere
#with someone who's running statistical simulations of some sort, and
#is relying on having a predictable sequence of numbers generated by
#Random().

If my memory serves me, After Dark does that for you.  It IS safe to call
Random() from After Dark modules (we have many that do).

--
------------------------------------------------------------------
|  Patrick C. Beard, Software Engineer, Berkeley Systems, Inc.   |
|                    "Heroes of technology."                     |
|    beard@lbl.gov, d0346@applelink.apple.com (ATTN: Patrick)    |