anthony@utcsstat.UUCP (01/10/85)
In regards to an earlier message by Greg Dudek with respect to
random number generation being dependent on I/O delays, and that my
criticism is especially inapplicable in the context of games, I would like
to raise two points. First, games that use a JOYSTICK necessitate that
the user not provide any keyboard input - hence my criticism is still
valid. Secondly, the random number generator is NOT dependent on I/O delays
and this can be shown to be true easily by executing the following
sequence of instructions:
1. boot-up and type PRINT RND(1)
2. boot-up again, press some keys (to give the I/O delay
counter a new value) and then type PRINT RND(1)
Both steps above will yield the same random number. On my machine,
this is 0.87..... Thus, the supposedly pseudo-random numbers are reprod-
ucible - a much desired characteristic !!!!
--
Anthony Ayiomamitis
Dept Prev Medicine & Biostatistics
Faculty of Medicine
University of Toronto
Toronto, Canada M5S 2T1
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