linda.s wrote: > I read something about random.seed() but still confused. i can > understand random.random() but it is very hard for me to understand > random.seed(0... can anyone explain an example? > I suggest you read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudorandom_number_generator to get the gist of pseudorandom number generation. Section 4 Mersenne twister <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudorandom_number_generator#Mersenne_twister> is the algorithm used by Python random.
random.seed() sets the starting number for the generator. Setting the seed to a known value can be important if you want the same sequence of pseudorandom numbers to be generated each time you test/run your program. Note that in Python "the current system time is ... used to initialize the generator when the [random] module is first imported." This pretty well ensures that the sequence of numbers generated will be different each time. HTH. -- Bob Gailer 510-978-4454 _______________________________________________ Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor
