Update STDLIB documentation

Language cleaned up by the technical writers xsipewe and tmanevik
from Combitech. Proofreading and corrections by Björn Gustavsson
and Hans Bolinder.

1 files changed, 82 insertions, 52 deletions

diff --git a/lib/stdlib/doc/src/random.xml b/lib/stdlib/doc/src/random.xml
index dea4e43c95..8d090d20b3 100644
--- a/lib/stdlib/doc/src/random.xml
+++ b/lib/stdlib/doc/src/random.xml
@@ -24,116 +24,140 @@
 
     <title>random</title>
     <prepared>Joe Armstrong</prepared>
-    <responsible>Bjarne Dacker</responsible>
+    <responsible>Bjarne D&auml;cker</responsible>
     <docno>1</docno>
     <approved>Bjarne D&auml;cker</approved>
     <checked></checked>
-    <date>96-09-09</date>
+    <date>1996-09-09</date>
     <rev>A</rev>
-    <file>random.sgml</file>
+    <file>random.xml</file>
   </header>
   <module>random</module>
-  <modulesummary>Pseudo random number generation</modulesummary>
+  <modulesummary>Pseudo-random number generation.</modulesummary>
   <description>
-    <p>Random number generator. The method is attributed to
-      B.A. Wichmann and I.D.Hill, in 'An efficient and portable
+    <p>This module provides a random number generator. The method is attributed
+      to B.A. Wichmann and I.D. Hill in 'An efficient and portable
       pseudo-random number generator', Journal of Applied
-      Statistics. AS183. 1982. Also Byte March 1987. </p>
-    <p>The current algorithm is a modification of the version attributed
-      to Richard A O'Keefe in the standard Prolog library.</p>
+      Statistics. AS183. 1982. Also Byte March 1987.</p>
+
+    <p>The algorithm is a modification of the version attributed
+      to Richard A. O'Keefe in the standard Prolog library.</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 (kept
+      it, and a new state is produced. The state can either be implicit (kept
       in the process dictionary) or be an explicit argument and return value.
       In this implementation, the state (the type <c>ran()</c>) consists of a
       tuple of three integers.</p>
-    <p>It should be noted that this random number generator is not cryptographically 
-      strong. If a strong cryptographic random number generator is needed for
-      example <c>crypto:strong_rand_bytes/1</c> could be used instead.</p>
-      <note><p>The new and improved <seealso
-      marker="stdlib:rand">rand</seealso> module should be used
-      instead of this module.</p></note>
+
+    <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"><c>crypto</c></seealso>
+        module, for example, <seealso marker="crypto:crypto">
+        <c>crypto:strong_rand_bytes/1</c></seealso>.</p>
+    </note>
+
+    <note>
+      <p>The improved <seealso marker="rand"><c>rand</c></seealso>
+        module is to be used instead of this module.</p>
+    </note>
   </description>
+
   <datatypes>
     <datatype>
       <name name="ran"/>
       <desc><p>The state.</p></desc>
     </datatype>
   </datatypes>
+
   <funcs>
     <func>
       <name name="seed" arity="0"/>
-      <fsummary>Seeds random number generation with default values</fsummary>
+      <fsummary>Seed random number generation with default values.</fsummary>
       <desc>
         <p>Seeds random number generation with default (fixed) values
-          in the process dictionary, and returns the old state.</p>
+          in the process dictionary and returns the old state.</p>
       </desc>
     </func>
+
+    <func>
+      <name name="seed" arity="1"/>
+      <fsummary>Seed random number generator.</fsummary>
+      <desc>
+        <p><c>seed({<anno>A1</anno>, <anno>A2</anno>, <anno>A3</anno>})</c>
+          is equivalent to
+          <c>seed(<anno>A1</anno>, <anno>A2</anno>, <anno>A3</anno>)</c>.</p>
+      </desc>
+    </func>
+
    <func>
       <name name="seed" arity="3"/>
-      <fsummary>Seeds random number generator</fsummary>
+      <fsummary>Seed random number generator.</fsummary>
       <desc>
         <p>Seeds random number generation with integer values in the process
-          dictionary, and returns the old state.</p>
-        <p>One easy way of obtaining a unique value to seed with is to:</p>
+          dictionary and returns the old state.</p>
+        <p>The following is an easy way of obtaining a unique value to seed
+          with:</p>
         <code type="none">
 random:seed(erlang:phash2([node()]),
             erlang:monotonic_time(),
             erlang:unique_integer())</code>
-        <p>See <seealso marker="erts:erlang#phash2/1">
-          erlang:phash2/1</seealso>, <seealso marker="erts:erlang#node/0">
-          node/0</seealso>, <seealso marker="erts:erlang#monotonic_time/0">
-          erlang:monotonic_time/0</seealso>, and
+        <p>For details, see
+          <seealso marker="erts:erlang#phash2/1">
+          <c>erlang:phash2/1</c></seealso>,
+          <seealso marker="erts:erlang#node/0">
+          <c>erlang:node/0</c></seealso>,
+          <seealso marker="erts:erlang#monotonic_time/0">
+          <c>erlang:monotonic_time/0</c></seealso>, and
           <seealso marker="erts:erlang#unique_integer/0">
-          erlang:unique_integer/0</seealso>) for details.</p>
-      </desc>
-    </func>
-    <func>
-      <name name="seed" arity="1"/>
-      <fsummary>Seeds random number generator</fsummary>
-      <desc>
-        <p>
-	<c>seed({<anno>A1</anno>, <anno>A2</anno>, <anno>A3</anno>})</c> is equivalent to <c>seed(<anno>A1</anno>, <anno>A2</anno>, <anno>A3</anno>)</c>.
-	</p>
+          <c>erlang:unique_integer/0</c></seealso>.</p>
       </desc>
     </func>
+
     <func>
       <name name="seed0" arity="0"/>
-      <fsummary>Return default state for random number generation</fsummary>
+      <fsummary>Return default state for random number generation.</fsummary>
       <desc>
         <p>Returns the default state.</p>
       </desc>
     </func>
+
     <func>
       <name name="uniform" arity="0"/>
-      <fsummary>Return a random float</fsummary>
+      <fsummary>Return a random float.</fsummary>
       <desc>
         <p>Returns a random float uniformly distributed between <c>0.0</c>
           and <c>1.0</c>, updating the state in the process dictionary.</p>
       </desc>
     </func>
+
     <func>
       <name name="uniform" arity="1"/>
-      <fsummary>Return a random integer</fsummary>
+      <fsummary>Return a random integer.</fsummary>
       <desc>
-        <p>Given an integer <c><anno>N</anno> >= 1</c>, <c>uniform/1</c> returns a
-          random integer uniformly distributed between <c>1</c> and
-          <c><anno>N</anno></c>, updating the state in the process dictionary.</p>
+        <p>Returns, for a specified integer <c><anno>N</anno> >= 1</c>,
+          a random integer uniformly distributed between <c>1</c> and
+          <c><anno>N</anno></c>, updating the state in the process
+          dictionary.</p>
       </desc>
     </func>
+
     <func>
       <name name="uniform_s" arity="1"/>
-      <fsummary>Return a random float</fsummary>
+      <fsummary>Return a random float.</fsummary>
       <desc>
-        <p>Given a state, <c>uniform_s/1</c>returns a random float uniformly
+        <p>Returns, for a specified state, a random float uniformly
           distributed between <c>0.0</c> and <c>1.0</c>, and a new state.</p>
       </desc>
     </func>
+
     <func>
       <name name="uniform_s" arity="2"/>
-      <fsummary>Return a random integer</fsummary>
+      <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 between <c>1</c> and
+        <p>Returns, for a specified integer <c><anno>N</anno> >= 1</c> and a
+          state, a random integer uniformly distributed between <c>1</c> and
           <c><anno>N</anno></c>, and a new state.</p>
       </desc>
     </func>
@@ -143,12 +167,18 @@ random:seed(erlang:phash2([node()]),
     <title>Note</title>
     <p>Some of the functions use the process dictionary variable
       <c>random_seed</c> to remember the current seed.</p>
-    <p>If a process calls <c>uniform/0</c> or <c>uniform/1</c> without
-      setting a seed first, <c>seed/0</c> is called automatically.</p>
-    <p>The implementation changed in R15. Upgrading to R15 will break
-      applications that expect a specific output for a given seed. The output
-      is still deterministic number series, but different compared to releases
-      older than R15. The seed <c>{0,0,0}</c> will, for example, no longer
+
+    <p>If a process calls
+      <seealso marker="#uniform/0"><c>uniform/0</c></seealso> or
+      <seealso marker="#uniform/1"><c>uniform/1</c></seealso>
+      without setting a seed first,
+      <seealso marker="#seed/0"><c>seed/0</c></seealso>
+      is called automatically.</p>
+
+    <p>The implementation changed in Erlang/OTP R15. Upgrading to R15 breaks
+      applications that expect a specific output for a specified seed. The
+      output is still deterministic number series, but different compared to
+      releases older than R15. Seed <c>{0,0,0}</c> does, for example, no longer
       produce a flawed series of only zeros.</p>
   </section>
 </erlref>