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From: egw.weakm@p3.lanl.gov (Eric Wasserman)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: Random() from with AfterDark (was Re: System Error 389)
Message-ID: <15152@lanl.gov>
Date: 20 Feb 91 02:03:41 GMT
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References:<1991Feb18.221718.9087@portia.Stanford.EDU> <91050.080755CXT105@psuvm.psu.edu> <10063@dog.ee.lbl.gov>

In article <10063@dog.ee.lbl.gov> beard@ux5.lbl.gov (Patrick C Beard) 
writes:
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?

Why don't you just use your own random number routine?  A standard linear-
congruential generator is essentially one line of code and is every bit
as good as the built-in Random(). At the same time, it is completely 
portable
and won't screw up the global RandSeed.  See the UMPG chapt. 1, or Knuth's
"Seminumerical Algorithms", for examples.

Eric

Eric
egw.weakm@p3.lanl.gov