Re: Improve `seed->random-state' in stable-2.0?

[David Kastrup]

Mark H Weaver <address@hidden> writes:

> I know how to make this _much_ better, but here's the question: is it
> okay to change the behavior of the random number generator in 2.0?  Or
> is it important that the same sequence of random numbers are generated
> from a given seed in the entire stable-2.0 series?

As long as the total _sequence_ stays the same (and does not contain
duplicate values), I would not worry.  If the sequence itself becomes
different, then the probability of two random subsequences having at
least one match match grows with the product rather than the sum of
their length.  Of course, if the subsequences _do_ overlap, you tend to
get colliding sequences instead of just single outliers.

-- 
David Kastrup