public inbox for [email protected]  

help / color / mirror / Atom feed

From: Dagfinn Ilmari Mannsåker <[email protected]>
To: Tom Lane <[email protected]>
Cc: [email protected]
Subject: Re: random() function documentation
Date: Mon, 11 Apr 2022 20:00:26 +0100
Message-ID: <[email protected]> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <[email protected]>
References: <[email protected]>
	<[email protected]>

Tom Lane <[email protected]> writes:

> =?utf-8?Q?Dagfinn_Ilmari_Manns=C3=A5ker?= <[email protected]> writes:
>> I just noticed that the since the random() rewrite¹, the documentation's
>> claim² that it "uses a simple linear congruential algorithm" is no
>> longer accurate (xoroshiro128** is an xorshift variant, which is a
>> linear-feedback shift register algorithm).
>
>> I don't have a suggestion for the exact wording, since I don't know
>> whether xoroshiro128** qualifies as "simple", or to what level of
>> specificity we want to document the algorithm.
>
> How about we just say "uses a linear-feedback shift register algorithm"?

That works for me.  Nice and simple, and not overly specific.  Should we
perhaps also add a warning that the same seed is not guaranteed to
produce the same sequence across different (major?) versions?

> "Simple" is in the eye of the beholder anyway.

Indeed.

> 			regards, tom lane

- ilmari

view thread (4+ messages)

reply

Reply instructions:

You may reply publicly to this message via plain-text email
using any one of the following methods:

* Reply to all the recipients using the --to and --cc options:
  reply via email

  To: [email protected]
  Cc: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
  Subject: Re: random() function documentation
  In-Reply-To: <[email protected]>

* Save the following mbox file, import it into your mail client,
  and reply-to-all from there: mbox

This inbox is served by agora; see mirroring instructions
for how to clone and mirror all data and code used for this inbox