Shuffle

[Sean Kelly]

Bill Baxter wrote:
> Sean Kelly wrote:
>> Frits van Bommel wrote:
>>> Sean Kelly wrote:
>>>> Frits van Bommel wrote:
>>>>> Both versions would be better if the randomizer eliminated modulo
>>>>> bias,
>>>>> though :P.
>>>> I just fixed that as well I think.  Let me know if I screwed it up:
>>>>
>> "The rand function computes a sequence of pseudo-random integers in the
>> range 0 to RAND_MAX."
> 
> I definitely recall reading that low-order bits of most rand()
> implementations were far from uniform.  So it kind of makes me wonder if
> it's even worth the effort to eliminate the small modulo bias given that
> the underlying random numbers may not be all that random to begin with.
>  That's why I avoided criticizing Tango for not implementing it in my
> previous message, but just commented that it didn't implement it.  It
> has a smell of being the random number generation version of "premature
> optimization".

Well, I figure the impl may as well do what it can, so I'm glad you
mentioned it.  If adjusting for the bias had been overly complex I
wouldn't have bothered.


Sean