Politness Costs Nothing but Can Pay Dividends

[KrazyHorse]

The stream from an API/programmer's POV is the set of numbers you can retrieve from a RNG after it's seeded.

Yes, it is.

And there's no reason to think that the thingamajig declares a new stream for every customer. It is possible to do that, but not at all the only solution. And doing it that way can lead to undesirable behaviour.

[Asher]

Asher, from a pure crypto perspective using the same seed is the correct solution.

Why the **** are we talking about crypto?

We're talking about generating random lottery numbers.

The same seed is not desirable in these situations. It's the same ****ing reason Civ games persist the RNG seed in game saves, to ensure combat plays out the same even if you reload and try again.

[KrazyHorse]

That's what I just said.

No, it's not.

It won't declare a new stream every time someone asks for a number using "next" or something equivalent.

[Asher]

Yes, it is.

And there's no reason to think that the thingamajig declares a new stream for every customer. It is possible to do that, but not at all the only solution. And doing it that way can lead to undesirable behaviour.

Why would it lead to undesirable behaviour for a lottery number generator?

What on Earth are you talking about....

[Kuciwalker]

Why the **** are we talking about crypto?

Crypto and random number generation are almost the same thing...

[KrazyHorse]

As I said earlier,

Never mind; apparently you don't know anything about RNGs...

[Asher]

No, it's not.

It won't declare a new stream every time someone asks for a number using "next" or something equivalent.

What the hell is going on here?

You said:

Also, "next" doesn't ****ing declare a new stream

I said:

It won't declare a new stream every time someone asks for a number using "next"

[Asher]

Why the **** are we talking about crypto?

Crypto and random number generation are almost the same thing...

What the ****? No, crypto is a specific application of RNGs. And the app domain requirements of crypto apps are nowhere near similar to the requirements for games or lottery.

[KrazyHorse]

Why would it lead to undesirable behaviour for a lottery number generator?

What on Earth are you talking about....

[Asher]

You're both out to lunch on this.

[Kuciwalker]

What the ****? No, crypto is a specific application of RNGs.

Alternately, RNGs are just a specific application of crypto.

Generating good random numbers and generating good ciphers are almost identical problems.

[Kuciwalker]

It's pretty disappointing that Asher is so narrowly focused on software development that he doesn't even understand the theoretical underpinnings of his programs...

[Asher]

Asher, from a pure crypto perspective using the same seed is the correct solution.

From a practical implementation perspective, inasmuch as this is vulnerable to any kind of attack re-seeding should make it more secure.

Missed this DanS.

Yes, re-seeding is the most obvious thing to do when you're starting a new stream of events, eg a new game of Civ or a new User. I've actually never seen it done any other way.

We seed our RNG after each app startup. But the seed takes into account a mix of chronological and analog information.

[Asher]

It's pretty disappointing that Asher is so narrowly focused on software development that he doesn't even understand the theoretical underpinnings of his programs...

I understand the underpinnings very well, but apparently I also understand the app domain far better than you two do because you miss the big picture while you fap off to the Monte Carlo fun.

[KrazyHorse]

Again, you CAN pipe in the time as the seed. That DOESN'T MEAN that the ****ing thing declares a new stream every time somebody asks for a number.

The hell are you talking about?

It won't declare a new stream every time someone asks for a number using "next" or something equivalent. I'm assuming they do a "new rand(time)" for each new user. And if they're not doing that, they're dumber than the dumbest Indian programmer I've ever met.

This right here shows that you were mixing up what does what. new rand declares the new stream. next increments the current stream. The solution you seem to favour is the one which declares a new stream for every user.