Stephen wrote:
> On Thu, 11/6/08, WEISD <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>
>>> That is strange. I get pretty balanced results on this
>>>
>> computer.
>>
>>> <?php
>>>
>>> $histogram = array_fill(1, 10, 0);
>>>
>>> $iterations = 200000;
>>>
>>> for ($i = 0; $i < $iterations; ++$i) {
>>> ++$histogram[round(rand(1, 10))];
>>> }
>>>
>>> print_r($histogram);
>>>
>>> ?>
>>>
>>> Andrew
>>>
>> Simple code,
>>
>> <?php
>> $number = rand(1, 10);
>>
>> include("footer$number.html"); ?>
>>
>> You can see it in action here at the bottom of the page
>> there is a footer.
>> Each footer is the same right now except I have numbered
>> them for testing.
>>
>> As I refresh the page, I get footer10 almost always with
>> an occasional 2 or
>> 4 here and there...
>>
>> http://www.weisd.com/store2/WINHD-9022.php
>>
> Computer functions to generate random numbers are not designed to do what
> their name suggests.
>
> Software testing requires repeatability, and this includes random number
> generation.
>
> Without knowing how PHP seeds the generator it is difficult to predict what
> it will do.
>
> I still think taking the last digit of the current time is your best solution.
>
> Stephen
>
>
The PHP developers understood the random problem and the need for
predictability, so they did 2 things.
1. Randomly seed the random number generator every time
2. Allow you to set the seed for predictability
http://us.php.net/srand
Thank you,
Micah Gersten
onShore Networks
Internal Developer
http://www.onshore.com
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