PGrandom
Description
A small object which generates a random number.
Syntax
$rand_num_generator = new PGrandom($initial_seed);
# creates generator with a fixed initial seed
$a = $rand_num_generator->random(-10,10,0.1);
# generates random number between -10 and 10 in 0.1 increments.
Attributes
| Name | Description | Defaults | | seed | Last internal random number generated. | |
Methods
| Method | Action/Returns | Other | random($initial, $final, $increment) | Generates a random number between the initial and final values in steps of increment. If the increment is 0 or less, then random chooses a floating point number between $initial and $final using a small increment. | $increment defaults to 1, if it is not supplied as an argument. | rand( $final) | Behaves like perl's rand. Generates a random number between 0 and $final. | $final defaults to 1 if that argument is omitted. | seed($new_seed) or
srand($new_seed) | Resets the seed for this random number generator object. | |
Notes Using independent random number generators
in a complicated problem or macro promotes compartmentalization and
robustness. If all macros were to use a common random number generator,
then a change in the number of calls to the random number generator in
one macro would affect the results in another macro, causing confusion
and a difficult debugging process.
random() itself is defined using a random number generator object which is stored in the global variable $main::PG_random_generator
See Also
"random"
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