Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!husc6!endor!waldman
From: waldman@endor.harvard.edu (benjamin Waldman)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: Calling Random
Summary: You have to initialize QuickDraw first
Message-ID: <1673@husc6.harvard.edu>
Date: 22 Apr 89 15:53:58 GMT
References: <1055@mailrus.cc.umich.edu>
Sender: news@husc6.harvard.edu
Reply-To: waldman@endor.UUCP (benjamin Waldman)
Distribution: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Organization: Aiken Computation Lab Harvard, Cambridge, MA
Lines: 19

In article <1055@mailrus.cc.umich.edu> davidh@ronin.cc.umich.edu (David Hotchkiss) writes:
>
>I'm trying to write some simple simulation programs that involve making
>calls to the random number generator.  Whenever I try calling the Random
>funtion, I get a Bus error.  However, the stackpointer is still even.
> 
>I've followed the suggestions in IM to call GetDateTime and set randseed
>equal to it but I still have the same problem.

Have you initilized QuickDraw yet?  Random() uses the value of randSeed
to determine the next random number, and randSeed is a QuickDraw global,
not a system global.  Thus, if QuickDraw hasn't been initialized, and
A5 or 0(a5) (I forget which) is pointing to and odd address (on a 68000
machine) or a huge address (68020), you'll bomb.

Ben Waldman
Harvard College

waldman@endor.harvard.edu