On Wed, 12 Mar 2003, Manish Jethani wrote:
Ok, I get the idea. Use rand() instead, for portability. And you have to seed the random no. generator with, say, the current time. Seed it using srandom((unsigned) time(NULL)) before any calls to random().
Althought that is what I do, someone once said that it's a bad idea to seed the random number generator with the system time.
or does someone have a better idea of generating random nos?
Yes, read the manual for random(3), srandom(3), rand(3), etc.
Read Seminumerical Analysis by the Don. It'll pass on some insights into the theory of random number generation.
Remember, all generated random numbers are just pseudo random. If you really want a random number, stick your finger in the air, pick the molecule that lands in the very centre of the tip of your finger, and measure its vibration. Ensure it stays at the centre of your finger at this point.
Philip