Stavros Macrakis wrote:
> Having the same generator on every platform would be ideal.
>
Only if it is as fast as possible on every platform. Frankly, if
you are using lots of random numbers (highly plausible) you want
them in a hurry. Much less important is that you would get the
same sequence on some computer you have no access to. If you are
using random numbers in a way that depends on having the exact
same sequence, you are not using the randomness property, but
the NON randomness property of a predictable sequence.
I think that programming a non-random sequence could be done
(slowly, the same way) on any computer !
I was just noticing on the Mathematica newsgroup some complaints
that when they changed integrate(f,x) to first do
f:=simplify(f), they ran into trouble because simplify() can take
a long time. So they put a time limit on the simplify. But
then the answer you get from integrate depends on how fast the
computer is...
Very non-portable.
> Almost as good would be some cross-platform way of saying "I want to
> restart my random sequence from a defined point".
>
> -s
>
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