[Python-Dev] a note in random.shuffle.__doc__ ...

[Greg Ewing]

Terry Jones wrote:

> The code below uses a RNG with period 5, is deterministic, and has one
> initial state. It produces 20 different outcomes.

You misunderstand what's meant by "outcome" in this
context. The outcome of your algorithm is the whole
*sequence* of numbers it produces, not each individual
number. And if the rng state is the only initial
condition that can vary, it can't produce more than
5 distinct sequences.

--
Greg