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<!DOCTYPE erlref SYSTEM "erlref.dtd">
<erlref>
<header>
<copyright>
<year>2015</year>
<holder>Ericsson AB. All Rights Reserved.</holder>
</copyright>
<legalnotice>
The contents of this file are subject to the Erlang Public License,
Version 1.1, (the "License"); you may not use this file except in
compliance with the License. You should have received a copy of the
Erlang Public License along with this software. If not, it can be
retrieved online at http://www.erlang.org/.
Software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS"
basis, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See
the License for the specific language governing rights and limitations
under the License.
</legalnotice>
<title>rand</title>
<prepared></prepared>
<responsible></responsible>
<docno>1</docno>
<approved></approved>
<checked></checked>
<date></date>
<rev>A</rev>
<file>rand.xml</file>
</header>
<module>rand</module>
<modulesummary>Pseudo random number generation</modulesummary>
<description>
<p>Random number generator.</p>
<p>The module contains several different algorithms and can be
extended with more in the future. The current uniform
distribution algorithms uses the
<url href="http://xorshift.di.unimi.it">
scrambled Xorshift algorithms by Sebastiano Vigna</url> and the
normal distribution algorithm uses the
<url href="http://www.jstatsoft.org/v05/i08">
Ziggurat Method by Marsaglia and Tsang</url>.
</p>
<p>The implemented algorithms are:</p>
<taglist>
<tag><c>exsplus</c></tag> <item>Xorshift116+, 58 bits precision and period of 2^116-1.</item>
<tag><c>exs64</c></tag> <item>Xorshift64*, 64 bits precision and a period of 2^64-1.</item>
<tag><c>exs1024</c></tag> <item>Xorshift1024*, 64 bits precision and a period of 2^1024-1.</item>
</taglist>
<p>The current default algorithm is <c>exsplus</c>. The default
may change in future. If a specific algorithm is required make
sure to always use <seealso marker="#seed-1">seed/1</seealso>
to initialize the state.
</p>
<p>Every time a random number is requested, a state is used to
calculate it and a new state produced. The state can either be
implicit or it can be an explicit argument and return value.
</p>
<p>The functions with implicit state use the process dictionary
variable <c>rand_seed</c> to remember the current state.</p>
<p>If a process calls <seealso marker="#uniform-0">uniform/0</seealso> or
<seealso marker="#uniform-1">uniform/1</seealso> without
setting a seed first, <seealso marker="#seed-1">seed/1</seealso>
is called automatically with the default algorithm and creates a
non-constant seed.</p>
<p>The functions with explicit state never use the process
dictionary.</p>
<p>Examples:</p>
<pre>
%% Simple usage. Creates and seeds the default algorithm
%% with a non-constant seed if not already done.
R0 = rand:uniform(),
R1 = rand:uniform(),
%% Use a given algorithm.
_ = rand:seed(exs1024),
R2 = rand:uniform(),
%% Use a given algorithm with a constant seed.
_ = rand:seed(exs1024, {123, 123534, 345345}),
R3 = rand:uniform(),
%% Use the functional api with non-constant seed.
S0 = rand:seed_s(exsplus),
{R4, S1} = rand:uniform_s(S0),
%% Create a standard normal deviate.
{SND0, S2} = rand:normal_s(S1),
</pre>
<note><p>This random number generator is not cryptographically
strong. If a strong cryptographic random number generator is
needed, use one of functions in the
<seealso marker="crypto:crypto">crypto</seealso>
module, for example <c>crypto:rand_bytes/1</c>.</p></note>
</description>
<datatypes>
<datatype>
<name name="alg"/>
</datatype>
<datatype>
<name name="state"/>
<desc><p>Algorithm dependent state.</p></desc>
</datatype>
<datatype>
<name name="export_state"/>
<desc><p>Algorithm dependent state which can be printed or saved to file.</p></desc>
</datatype>
</datatypes>
<funcs>
<func>
<name name="seed" arity="1"/>
<fsummary>Seed random number generator</fsummary>
<desc>
<marker id="seed-1"/>
<p>Seeds random number generation with the given algorithm and time dependent
data if <anno>AlgOrExpState</anno> is an algorithm.</p>
<p>Otherwise recreates the exported seed in the process
dictionary, and returns the state.
<em>See also:</em> <seealso marker="#export_seed-0">export_seed/0</seealso>.</p>
</desc>
</func>
<func>
<name name="seed_s" arity="1"/>
<fsummary>Seed random number generator</fsummary>
<desc>
<p>Seeds random number generation with the given algorithm and time dependent
data if <anno>AlgOrExpState</anno> is an algorithm.</p>
<p>Otherwise recreates the exported seed and returns the state.
<em>See also:</em> <seealso marker="#export_seed-0">export_seed/0</seealso>.</p>
</desc>
</func>
<func>
<name name="seed" arity="2"/>
<fsummary>Seed the random number generation</fsummary>
<desc>
<p>Seeds random number generation with the given algorithm and
integers in the process dictionary and returns
the state.</p>
</desc>
</func>
<func>
<name name="seed_s" arity="2"/>
<fsummary>Seed the random number generation</fsummary>
<desc>
<p>Seeds random number generation with the given algorithm and
integers and returns the state.</p>
</desc>
</func>
<func>
<name name="export_seed" arity="0"/>
<fsummary>Export the random number generation state</fsummary>
<desc><marker id="export_seed-0"/>
<p>Returns the random number state in an external format.
To be used with <seealso marker="#seed-1">seed/1</seealso>.</p>
</desc>
</func>
<func>
<name name="export_seed_s" arity="1"/>
<fsummary>Export the random number generation state</fsummary>
<desc><marker id="export_seed_s-1"/>
<p>Returns the random number generator state in an external format.
To be used with <seealso marker="#seed-1">seed/1</seealso>.</p>
</desc>
</func>
<func>
<name name="uniform" arity="0"/>
<fsummary>Return a random float</fsummary>
<desc>
<marker id="uniform-0"/>
<p>Returns a random float uniformly distributed in the value
range <c>0.0 < <anno>X</anno> < 1.0 </c> and
updates the state in the process dictionary.</p>
</desc>
</func>
<func>
<name name="uniform_s" arity="1"/>
<fsummary>Return a random float</fsummary>
<desc>
<p>Given a state, <c>uniform_s/1</c> returns a random float
uniformly distributed in the value range <c>0.0 <
<anno>X</anno> < 1.0</c> and a new state.</p>
</desc>
</func>
<func>
<name name="uniform" arity="1"/>
<fsummary>Return a random integer</fsummary>
<desc>
<marker id="uniform-1"/>
<p>Given an integer <c><anno>N</anno> >= 1</c>,
<c>uniform/1</c> returns a random integer uniformly
distributed in the value range
<c>1 <= <anno>X</anno> <= <anno>N</anno></c> and
updates the state in the process dictionary.</p>
</desc>
</func>
<func>
<name name="uniform_s" arity="2"/>
<fsummary>Return a random integer</fsummary>
<desc>
<p>Given an integer <c><anno>N</anno> >= 1</c> and a state,
<c>uniform_s/2</c> returns a random integer uniformly
distributed in the value range <c>1 <= <anno>X</anno> <=
<anno>N</anno></c> and a new state.</p>
</desc>
</func>
<func>
<name name="normal" arity="0"/>
<fsummary>Return a standard normal distributed random float</fsummary>
<desc>
<p>Returns a standard normal deviate float (that is, the mean
is 0 and the standard deviation is 1) and updates the state in
the process dictionary.</p>
</desc>
</func>
<func>
<name name="normal_s" arity="1"/>
<fsummary>Return a standard normal distributed random float</fsummary>
<desc>
<p>Given a state, <c>normal_s/1</c> returns a standard normal
deviate float (that is, the mean is 0 and the standard
deviation is 1) and a new state.</p>
</desc>
</func>
</funcs>
</erlref>
