I should add, as does the Python documentation, that if you want genuinely non-reproducible random values, the `secrets` module exists and produces the best results possible on a given OS and computer architecture. On Unix-like systems, /dev/random is the best source of entropy you're going to find, and trying to find your own is certainly going to be less good than that source which `secrets` utilizes.
On Mon, Nov 14, 2022 at 11:13 AM David Mertz, Ph.D. <david.me...@gmail.com> wrote: > In concept, what James suggests, is similar to the Random123 library, > written at D.E.Shaw Research by my sadly late colleague John Salmon. See > https://github.com/DEShawResearch/random123 and the linked academic > publications. E.g. https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2063384.2063405 > > In general, all PRNGs are deterministic, and by relying on a known seed, > the Nth element in a sequence of random numbers can always be > reconstructructed. However, if a large number of random numbers are used, > certain replication scenarios make the purely sequential nature of > generators like Mersenne Twister or linear congruential generators > inconvenient. > > Counter based pseudo-random generators like Random123 use cryptographic > transformations upon counter variables, and were rigorously shown to pass > all standard tests of randomness of distribution. However, these tests > were done using AES, Threefish, and Philox, and do not automatically apply > to SHA256 that James uses. The advantage of these is that they allow > direct construction of the Nth element in a pseudo-random sequence without > large memory or CPU usage needed to construct the N-1 prior elements. > > That said, Random123 is *done right* by a number of very brilliant people > who performed rigorous testing. Something that "seems kinda similar" may > or may not be of similar quality (more likely not). FWIW, AES is built-in > as a primitive instructruction on most modern general-purpose CPUs, so can > be very fast to perform. > > On Mon, Nov 14, 2022 at 10:56 AM Barry <ba...@barrys-emacs.org> wrote: > >> >> >> > On 14 Nov 2022, at 14:31, James Johnson <jj126...@gmail.com> wrote: >> > >> > >> > I wrote the attached python (3) code to improve on existing prng >> functions. I used the time module for one method, which resulted in >> disproportionate odd values, but agreeable means. >> > >> > I used the hashlib module for the second. It is evident that the code >> is amateur, but the program might result in better PRN generation. >> > >> > The "app" lends itself to checking, using statistical tools (see >> comments.) >> >> Have you used any cryptographic tools to prove the quality of your PRNG? >> What results did you get? >> How does your PRNG compare to what python already has? >> >> Without that this analysis this will be unlikely to be considered as a >> candidate for python stdlib. >> >> Barry >> >> > >> > I remain a fan, >> > >> > James Johnson >> > <testrandom.py> >> > _______________________________________________ >> > Python-ideas mailing list -- python-ideas@python.org >> > To unsubscribe send an email to python-ideas-le...@python.org >> > https://mail.python.org/mailman3/lists/python-ideas.python.org/ >> > Message archived at >> https://mail.python.org/archives/list/python-ideas@python.org/message/VENAT2YTVYVHTBSEVHHMIURCU6MG2CEO/ >> > Code of Conduct: http://python.org/psf/codeofconduct/ >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Python-ideas mailing list -- python-ideas@python.org >> To unsubscribe send an email to python-ideas-le...@python.org >> https://mail.python.org/mailman3/lists/python-ideas.python.org/ >> Message archived at >> https://mail.python.org/archives/list/python-ideas@python.org/message/HWQV4AKQAUM7CY4NWS2IRIVLRAYMKR3V/ >> Code of Conduct: http://python.org/psf/codeofconduct/ >> > > > -- > Keeping medicines from the bloodstreams of the sick; food > from the bellies of the hungry; books from the hands of the > uneducated; technology from the underdeveloped; and putting > advocates of freedom in prisons. Intellectual property is > to the 21st century what the slave trade was to the 16th. > -- Keeping medicines from the bloodstreams of the sick; food from the bellies of the hungry; books from the hands of the uneducated; technology from the underdeveloped; and putting advocates of freedom in prisons. Intellectual property is to the 21st century what the slave trade was to the 16th.
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