Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2000 14:28:25 +0200 (IST)
From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz AT is DOT elta DOT co DOT il>
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To: Ben Davis <ben AT vjpoole DOT freeserve DOT co DOT uk>
cc: djgpp AT delorie DOT com
Subject: Re: Random Numbers
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On Wed, 8 Mar 2000, Ben Davis wrote:

> I know what random() and srandom() are. But what are initstate() and
> setstate()? The help files are very unspecific.

There's nothing to say about `setstate' except what the docs says.
Its argument is typically a value returned by a previous call to
`initstate'.

As for `initstate', it is impossible to explain it without describing
the theory behind the random number generator used by `random' and its
specific implementation.  (If somebody has enough time and motivation
to write that up, please send it for inclusion in a future release of
DJGPP.)

If you already know how `random's innards work, and you have specific
questions about `initstate', please ask those specific questions.
Otherwise, I suggest to take a good look at the sources of `random' in
the djlsr203.zip archive.