On Wed, Jul 24, 2013 at 12:54:19PM -0700, Andrei Alexandrescu wrote: > On 7/24/13 2:43 AM, monarch_dodra wrote: [...] > >The whole of std.random is nothing but problems and pitfalls, biting > >us and our users on a regular basis :/ > > What are the other problems aside from value semantics? [...]
Value semantics for RNGs are a *gigantic* pitfall. Joseph Rushton Wakeling has pointed out some side-effects such as producing sequences with bad randomness properties (e.g. first element of two RNGs identical, the rest not; or first element of two RNGs different but the rest identical, etc.). We need to get rid of value semantics for RNGs, and we need to get rid of it *now*. T -- Truth, Sir, is a cow which will give [skeptics] no more milk, and so they are gone to milk the bull. -- Sam. Johnson
