on the prng behind random.random()
Dan Sommers
2QdxY4RzWzUUiLuE at potatochowder.com
Mon Nov 19 19:07:47 EST 2018
On 11/19/18 6:49 PM, Robert Girault wrote:
> I think I disagree with your take here. With mt19937, given ANY seed,
> I can eventually predict all the sequence without having to query the
> oracle any further.
Even if that's true, and I use mt19937 inside my program, you don't
[usually|necessarily] have access to the raw output from it.
> If you're just writing a toy software, even K&R PRNG works just fine.
> If you're writing a weather simulation, I suppose you need real
> random-like properties and still need your generator to be reproducible.
> If you're using random Quicksort, you do need unpredictability and
> reproducibility. If you're writing a crypto application, then you need
> something way stronger. We need all of them ...
Agreed. Mostly. IIRC, though, your question was about *replacing*
mt19937, not adding a new RNG.
Please use the right tool for the job at hand.
> ... But mt19937 is now useful only in toy software.
It has "real random-like" properties (for certain definitions of "real"
and "random-like") and it's reproducible. Therefore, it's good for
weather simulations, too.
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