random number generation: the newbie asks for advice

[Alex Martelli]

Neel Krishnaswami writes:

> Alex Martelli <Alex.Martelli at think3.com> wrote:
> >
> >Is there a decent, Python-interfaced, C-written, stand-alone random
> >number generator, with persistable/de-persistable state?  Or am I
    [snip]
> http://www.math.keio.ac.jp/~matumoto/emt.html

Thanks for the pointer -- it does seem just about what I needed, yes!

> Unfortunately, I don't think it has a Python wrapper yet. It should be
> easy to implement, though, since there's only a pair of very small C
> functions to wrap.

True -- there seem to be quite a few versions, with differences of
detail (only a F90 version seems to implement persistence, although
it would seem straightforward to add to the C ones too) -- so it will
take a moment to select exactly what C functionality to wrap, but
actually doing so would seem to be even within a newbie's compass
of abilities (although packaging it in the standard Python way may
well be beyond them -- we'll see:-).


Tx again,

Alex