Re: [PATCH] Makes sort create random order

[Felipe Kellermann]

On Sun, 30 Jan 2005 12:10pm  -0800, Frederik Eaton wrote:

> seq feature for other things as well, I think, provided it was well
> implemented - e.g. 'jot' seems to seed it's RNG from epoch seconds,
> which is no good, microseconds would be better. The disadvantage is

Yes, but there's two points here:
1) There's generally a way to the user to specify a seed. Tipically this 
   value is specified in the last argument (step value in nornal mode).

2) Today's implementations are using other randomizations than a simple 
   s?rand(3) -- take for example the OpenBSD's implementation (uses ARC4), 
   though this implemantion doesn't specify user-specified seed.

I'd sum the good decisions of these implementations up in seq this way

1) Generate 4 random values (ranging from 1 to 4):
$ seq -r 4

2) Generate 4 random values (ranging from 4 to 7):
$ seq -r 4 7

3) Generate 4 random values (ranging from 4 to 7, seed 3):
$ seq -r 4 3 7

4) Generate an endless number of random values (useful with head):
$ seq -r

Does anyone have suggestions on this?

-- 
Felipe Kellermann