From owner-freebsd-arch Sun Feb 25 19:32: 1 2001 Delivered-To: freebsd-arch@freebsd.org Received: from obsecurity.dyndns.org (adsl-64-165-226-74.dsl.lsan03.pacbell.net [64.165.226.74]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7111937B503 for ; Sun, 25 Feb 2001 19:31:58 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from kris@obsecurity.org) Received: by obsecurity.dyndns.org (Postfix, from userid 1000) id 05C0E66B62; Sun, 25 Feb 2001 19:31:57 -0800 (PST) Date: Sun, 25 Feb 2001 19:31:57 -0800 From: Kris Kennaway To: Terry Lambert Cc: Kris Kennaway , arch@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: cvs commit: ports/astro/xglobe/files patch-random Message-ID: <20010225193157.A16118@mollari.cthul.hu> References: <20010225005813.A29124@mollari.cthul.hu> <200102260241.TAA07028@usr05.primenet.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; micalg=pgp-md5; protocol="application/pgp-signature"; boundary="G4iJoqBmSsgzjUCe" Content-Disposition: inline User-Agent: Mutt/1.2.5i In-Reply-To: <200102260241.TAA07028@usr05.primenet.com>; from tlambert@primenet.com on Mon, Feb 26, 2001 at 02:41:22AM +0000 Sender: owner-freebsd-arch@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG --G4iJoqBmSsgzjUCe Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Mon, Feb 26, 2001 at 02:41:22AM +0000, Terry Lambert wrote: > > That's good to know. I'll look at replacing it with something better > > that has the same semantics, so we solve this problem at the source. >=20 > Please do not. The 48 bit linear congruential algorithm is often > used to creat pseudo one-time pads for ciphering data. Changing Only by idiots, perhaps. rand() is totally wrong for that application. > the algorithm will result in ciphered data becoming inaccesable. >=20 > Repeatability of results in montecarlo based physics simulations is > also an issue. FreeBSD would end up being much less useful for real > numeric work, should rand() be changed. This won't happen because the interface won't change. > Ignoring that, what makes you think you can come up with a better > algorithm than Donald Knuth? Me? No, but others have done so. Terry, the existing rand() is a bad algorithm just about any way you look at it. Kris --G4iJoqBmSsgzjUCe Content-Type: application/pgp-signature Content-Disposition: inline -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.0.4 (FreeBSD) Comment: For info see http://www.gnupg.org iD8DBQE6mc4tWry0BWjoQKURAvQLAJ9gh9jjUzzupKhYXkc/O3J14JGgzwCfeZWB nhJBux+Kv4+nSvrpYeLiEns= =M9qV -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --G4iJoqBmSsgzjUCe-- To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-arch" in the body of the message