Not so random Randomizer



  • import tools.*;

    class tools.Randomizer {
       
        static private var number:Number = 0;
       
        static function getNumber():Number {
            return number++;
        }
       
    }

     

    Random isn't random, but this...



  •  Guaranteed to be unique, I guess.



  • He should add a random amount to it instead.  As of right now, he will never get any negatives, 0s, or decimals.

    <FONT size=3><FONT face=Calibri>And just to get it out of the way… this reminds of an overly abused xkcd that must never be linked: <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT>

     

    [mod - you were warned]

  • ♿ (Parody)

    @dhromed said:

    Guaranteed to be unique, I guess.

    As long as there's only one thread...but then, true randomness is not unique, so I guess that's as ok as anything else about this.



  • I don't see a huge problem with this if it is used solely in a testing environment ... adds some ... predictabilty ... when testing something expected to be random.

    Much like using a fake system clock which only ticks once every time it is accessed.



  • I'm curious why this exists. What is it used for?



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    I'm curious why this exists. What is it used for?

     It is used for generating id's... In multiple production environments.

    I wish it was unique, 'cause that would mean it works as intended...

    But it is not really a randomizer, but an ID generator.



  • @chillisaus said:

    @morbiuswilters said:

    I'm curious why this exists. What is it used for?

     It is used for generating id's... In multiple production environments.

    I wish it was unique, 'cause that would mean it works as intended...

    But it is not really a randomizer, but an ID generator.

    Ah, I see. Also, what language is this?



  •  @morbiuswilters said:

    Also, what language is this?

    colon-type notation suggests Delphi, if I am not mistaken.

    Or Pascal.



  • @dhromed said:

    colon-type notation suggests Delphi, if I am not mistaken.

    Or Pascal.

    Very unlikely - { } are comment separators in Pascal/Delphi.



  •  Heh, this might be TRWTF, but it's ActionScript. 2.0 that is...



  • @chillisaus said:

     Heh, this might be TRWTF, but it's ActionScript. 2.0 that is...

    Server-side actionscript? I didn't even know that was possible..



  • @ender said:

    @dhromed said:

    colon-type notation suggests Delphi, if I am not mistaken.

    Or Pascal.

    Very unlikely - { } are comment separators in Pascal/Delphi.
    TRWTF.

    @zelmak said:

    I don't see a huge problem with this if it is used solely in a testing environment ... adds some ... predictabilty ... when testing something expected to be random.

    So does srand(0), and that still gives random-looking numbers.



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    Server-side actionscript?
     

    Who said it was server-side?



  • @dhromed said:

    @morbiuswilters said:

    Server-side actionscript?
     

    Who said it was server-side?

    He said it was used for "generating IDs in multiple production environments". That definitely sounds like server-side work to me, but maybe not.



  • @Anketam said:

    He should add a random amount to it instead.  As of right now, he will never get any negatives, 0s, or decimals.

    <font size="3"><font face="Calibri">And just to get it out of the way… this reminds of an overly abused xkcd that must never be linked: </font></font>

     

    [mod - you were warned]

    Woohoo! Rosie's *hot*!



    [I'm only putting one Rosie here because there's already been enough awfulness in this thread. -TheShadowMod]



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    He said it was used for "generating IDs in multiple production environments". That definitely sounds like server-side work to me, but maybe not.

    Grandma's Facebook open to Farmville = "production environment".



  • @D-Coder said:

    @Anketam said:

    He should add a random amount to it instead.  As of right now, he will never get any negatives, 0s, or decimals.

    <FONT size=3><FONT face=Calibri>And just to get it out of the way… this reminds of an overly abused xkcd that must never be linked: </FONT></FONT>  <Rosie picture>

     

    [mod - you were warned]

    Woohoo! Rosie's *hot*!

    <Hot Rosie Picture>

    [I'm only putting one Rosie here because there's already been enough awfulness in this thread. -TheShadowMod]
    The only reason why I have a Rosie picture was I was testing to see if the moderators would catch the forbidden link, and they did.  I was killing over laughing at how fast they caught and fixed it.


  • @Anketam said:

    The only reason why I have a Rosie picture was I was testing to see if the moderators would catch the forbidden link, and they did.  I was killing over laughing at how fast they caught and fixed it.

    Surely this is achievable by a bit of regex on an input filter?

    It's not a manual process.. is it?



  • @Cassidy said:

    @Anketam said:
    The only reason why I have a Rosie picture was I was testing to see if the moderators would catch the forbidden link, and they did.  I was killing over laughing at how fast they caught and fixed it.
    Surely this is achievable by a bit of regex on an input filter?

    It's not a manual process.. is it?

    Well it did not instantly change, so I doubted that it was an auto script, it could be and it just took a while to run, specially if it needed to find a super special awesome picture of Rosie.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @Cassidy said:

    It's not a manual process.. is it?
    Yes, it's manual. You think CS is capable of that sort of thing?





    Besides - it took me a while to find a suitable picture for Anketam's. (I'm not responsible for the ShadowMod's efforts however.)



  • @PJH said:

    @Cassidy said:
    It's not a manual process.. is it?
    Yes, it's manual. You think CS is capable of that sort of thing?

    Well, I'd have thought a site created by a developer, containing a forum that's populated with developers, moderated by those involved in the S/W engineering industry could have created a module that --

    -- shit. Have I been trolled again?



  • @PJH said:

    (I'm not responsible for the ShadowMod's efforts however.)
     

    WHOEVER HE MAY BE :O


  • Trolleybus Mechanic

     Might I suggest that random links to XKCD be instead replaced with a link to a random XKCD as to destroy context. For example:

    @Only 1/1000 chance of being right said:


    "SQL Injection? have they not read this?!?"

     This is not the comic you're looking for

    <img src="http://houghtonhaunt.com/xkcd.php" />

     


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @Cassidy said:

    Well, I'd have thought a site created by a developer, containing a forum that's populated with developers, moderated by those involved in the S/W engineering industry could have created a would have used a 3rd party module ,rather than reinventing triangular wheels, that --

    FTFY.



  • Either-or, really.

    Or, perhaps more succinctly: "I'd have thought... could find some means to automate this process".



  • @Anketam said:

    I was killing over laughing at how fast they caught and fixed it.

    /me calls the police

    @Lorne Kates said:

    Might I suggest that random links to XKCD be instead replaced with a link to a random XKCD as to destroy context.
    Considering the post that started it I actually linked to the page that gives you a random comic...

    Also...



    [RTFY. -TheShadowMod]


  • Trolleybus Mechanic

    @Sutherlands said:

    @Anketam said:

    I was killing over laughing at how fast they caught and fixed it.

     * Sutherlands calls the police

    @Lorne Kates said:

    Might I suggest that random links to XKCD be instead replaced with a link to a random XKCD as to destroy context.
    Considering the post that started it I actually linked to the page that gives you a random comic...

     

    Small difference. Your page randomly selects a comic, then forwards you to that page. You end up with a static result that you copy into an <img> tag.

    My page serves up a random comic dynamically each time it is accessed, and is meant to be the src of an img tag.

    Refresh the page a few times...

     



  • Did I derail this topic?

    *sighs*



  • @Cassidy said:

    @PJH said:

    @Cassidy said:
    It's not a manual process.. is it?
    Yes, it's manual. You think CS is capable of that sort of thing?

    Well, I'd have thought a site created by a developer, containing a forum that's populated with developers, moderated by those involved in the S/W engineering industry could have created a module that --

    -- shit. Have I been trolled again?

    There was a CS module but its Quantum Intelligence Matrix would always commit suicide shortly after achieving sentience. I can't say I blame it.



  • @Lorne Kates said:

    Might I suggest that random links to XKCD be instead replaced with a link to a random XKCD as to destroy context.

    We need a Random Rosie script as well. And I must say, I fucking hate your script. Due to the fact that its random nature guarantees I get a different comic on each reload my exposure to xkcd has gone up 10-fold. It's like a salted nuclear weapon; you've taken something awful and made it a crime against humanity.



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    It's like a salted nuclear weapon; you've taken something awful and made it a crime against humanity.

    How salt can make a nuclear weapon worse?


  • Trolleybus Mechanic

    @morbiuswilters said:

    We need a Random Rosie script as well.
     

    Get me a zip file with a collection of Rosie picks, and I'll whip it up. I won't look at the contents, but I'll whip it up.

    @morbiuswilters said:

    And I must say, I fucking hate your script. Due to the fact that its random nature guarantees I get a different comic on each reload my exposure to xkcd has gone up 10-fold. It's like a salted nuclear weapon; you've taken something awful and made it a crime against humanity.

    I made it to embarass those who rely on ObigXKCD. That it also causes untolds about of pain and suffereing to all those around it-- is a nice bonus.



  • @Lorne Kates said:

    Small difference. Your page randomly selects a comic, then forwards you to that page. You end up with a static result that you copy into an <img> tag.

    No.  I end up with a link to a page that sends you to a random XKCD page.  Thus, a different one every time.  It just wasn't an imbedded image.


  • @serguey123 said:

    @morbiuswilters said:

    It's like a salted nuclear weapon; you've taken something awful and made it a crime against humanity.

    How salt can make a nuclear weapon worse?

     

    because the salt, like, it gets in the wounds.

     



  • Back to the OP.... somebody used a random number generator for primary keys and you call the implementation the WTF? Only a bad implementation would ever survive load testing; the concept is TRWTF.



  • @Jaime said:

    Back to the OP.... somebody used a random number generator for primary keys and you call the implementation the WTF? Only a bad implementation would ever survive load testing; the concept is TRWTF.
    How much load do you do in your load testing that any randum number generator would fail?  Using a trillion GUIDs gives you about 40 billionths of a percent chance of collision.



  • GUIDs are large and collision resistant. Most non cryptographic quality random numbers are neither.



  • @Jaime said:

    GUIDs are large and collision resistant. Most non cryptographic quality random numbers are neither.

    So then only a GOOD implementation would get through load-testing?


  • @Sutherlands said:

    @Jaime said:

    GUIDs are large and collision resistant. Most non cryptographic quality random numbers are neither.

    So then only a GOOD implementation would get through load-testing?
    A GUID is a good unique number, but a poor random number. If you ever tried to use GUIDs in a video game, you would get an interesting outcome. Cryptographic quality random numbers are also poor for general purpose use because they can be very slow, especially if you generate a large number in a short period of time. For example, a realllllly good source of quality random numbers is one of these. It can't generate more than about 100 bytes per second. So, I stand by my statement that anything that would be good at avoiding collisions would be a poor implementation of a general purpose random number generator.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @Jaime said:

    So, I stand by my statement that anything that would be good at avoiding collisions would be a poor implementation of a general purpose random number generator.
    Anything that avoids duplicates is most certainly not random.



  • @Lorne Kates said:

    @morbiuswilters said:

    We need a Random Rosie script as well.
     

    Get me a zip file with a collection of Rosie picks, and I'll whip it up. I won't look at the contents, but I'll whip it up.

    @morbiuswilters said:

    And I must say, I fucking hate your script. Due to the fact that its random nature guarantees I get a different comic on each reload my exposure to xkcd has gone up 10-fold. It's like a salted nuclear weapon; you've taken something awful and made it a crime against humanity.

    I made it to embarass those who rely on ObigXKCD. That it also causes untolds about of pain and suffereing to all those around it-- is a nice bonus.

    More Rosie pain, please! .

     



  • @D-Coder said:

    More Rosie pain, please!
     

    I'd hit it.

    With a 2×4.

    With rusty nails.



  • @serguey123 said:

    @morbiuswilters said:

    It's like a salted nuclear weapon; you've taken something awful and made it a crime against humanity.

    How salt can make a nuclear weapon worse?

    It's not salting itself that morbius hates, but rolling out your own implementation of it.



  • @dhromed said:

    @serguey123 said:

    @morbiuswilters said:

    It's like a salted nuclear weapon; you've taken something awful and made it a crime against humanity.

    How salt can make a nuclear weapon worse?

     

    because the salt, like, it gets in the wounds.

    So it makes them more awesome?



  • @PJH said:

    @Jaime said:
    So, I stand by my statement that anything that would be good at avoiding collisions would be a poor implementation of a general purpose random number generator.
    Anything that avoids duplicates is most certainly not random.
    In a large enough number space, completely random numbers will almost certainly not collide within an application's use of them.  That was the point in the beginning.



  • @Sutherlands said:

    @PJH said:

    @Jaime said:
    So, I stand by my statement that anything that would be good at avoiding collisions would be a poor implementation of a general purpose random number generator.
    Anything that avoids duplicates is most certainly not random.
    In a large enough number space, completely random numbers will almost certainly not collide within an application's use of them.  That was the point in the beginning.

    http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4122 mentions version 4 UUIDs which are randomly generated. For a 122-bit random number, the chance of collision is very low.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @Sutherlands said:

    @PJH said:
    @Jaime said:
    So, I stand by my statement that anything that would be good at avoiding collisions would be a poor implementation of a general purpose random number generator.
    Anything that avoids duplicates is most certainly not random.
    In a large enough number space, completely random numbers will almost certainly not collide within an application's use of them. 
    Well if you're only selecting - say - 2 random numbers from a space of 2^32 or 2^64, may be. But once you start selecting more and more numbers the Birthday Paradox comes into play increasing the probability of a 'collision.'



  • @PJH said:

    @Sutherlands said:
    @PJH said:
    @Jaime said:
    So, I stand by my statement that anything that would be good at avoiding collisions would be a poor implementation of a general purpose random number generator.
    Anything that avoids duplicates is most certainly not random.
    In a large enough number space, completely random numbers will almost certainly not collide within an application's use of them. 
    Well if you're only selecting - say - 2 random numbers from a space of 2^32 or 2^64, may be. But once you start selecting more and more numbers the Birthday Paradox comes into play increasing the probability of a 'collision.'

    The chance of collision still remains quite low.



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    @PJH said:
    @Sutherlands said:
    @PJH said:
    @Jaime said:
    So, I stand by my statement that anything that would be good at avoiding collisions would be a poor implementation of a general purpose random number generator.
    Anything that avoids duplicates is most certainly not random.
    In a large enough number space, completely random numbers will almost certainly not collide within an application's use of them. 
    Well if you're only selecting - say - 2 random numbers from a space of 2^32 or 2^64, may be. But once you start selecting more and more numbers the Birthday Paradox comes into play increasing the probability of a 'collision.'
    The chance of collision still remains quite low.
    Absolutely.  But, if you are calling something called GenerateGUID and it happens to create a version 4 UUID, you will get back a random number that is suitable as a primary key in a distributed system.  If you call something called tools.Randomizer.getNumber and use it as a primary key, you are an idiot.  GUID are designed to be collision resistant, either through algorithm or keyspace.  Random numbers as a class are not.  Pointing out that there exist a subset of random numbers (version 4 UUIDs) that are collision resistant does little to make that false.  One counter-example is not sufficient.


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