On 20 Sep 2009, at 17:09, Colin Law wrote: >> Actually that could be never or always, relying on random numbers >> to make >> decisions on whether to do something "most of the time" is a bad >> idea. > > Since quantum physics works entirely by probabilities (that is random > numbers) and microprocessors are built from semi-conductors which > operate because of the laws of quantum physics, it could be said that > any software is entirely dependent on the operation of random numbers. > Therefore however it is coded it is 'relying on random numbers to > make decisions on whether to do something'. > > Seriously, though, to suggest that something coded using random > numbers to be executed 1% of the time may either never run or always > run is incorrect. Assuming it is correctly coded of course.
Well, since you are going on the philosophical tour here, there's more than one random variable coming into play here. Not only the mod 10 result, but also the number of hits on the application, the time at which they hit the application etc. That's not even playing with probabities, that's just plain gambling. All I was trying to point out, is that you have no way of knowing if and when the sessions table would be cleaned, just like you have no way of knowing if you have a chance of winning a game of bingo or the lotto, since you are bringing in a lot more variables than just the semi-random computer generated ones. You could hit it the first time, you could hit it twice in a row and you could wait days to hit it. The fact that you have a 10% chance or a 1% chance of hitting the right number is still a probability, not a certainty. When it comes to cleaning a table that just keeps piling up records that become stale, I do like to have some kind of guarantee that it will clean when I want it, not when quantum physics and random people surfing to my application decide it's the right time. Best regards Peter De Berdt --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ruby on Rails: Talk" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
