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in reply to Re: Random numbers are not random enough on Windows
in thread Random numbers are not random enough on Windows

The issue the OP experienced was not with the Windows PRNG, but with the PRNG built into Perl. They are quite different animals. The Perl PRNG is a 16 bit primitive PRNG that has been provided by MicroSoft's C run time for pretty much ever. It has long been recognised as a very flawed (some would say 'useless') PRNG, but much code has been written using it that would probably break if it were changed. If you have a serious need for a good PRNG for some application there are plenty of libraries around that will supply the need for various appropriate definitions of 'good'.

To a fairly large extent there is not a great deal of point in a compiler supplying a 'good' PRNG because there are many areas of compromise in the definition of good for any particular application. Anyone with a serious application for a PRNG will most likely either develop their own, or use library code developed for a similar application.


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