Generating a random number?

I've followed the random number generating tutorial, but while I'm in a loop, it uses the same generated number. Say for example, I run the program and the random number is 3, then for each loop, the random number will be 3 until the loop ends, I would like the random number to change each time the loop runs.

How do I do this?

Thanks


Dave

Seed the random number generator only once at the beginning. srand() should not be called within the loop.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by swoopy

Seed the random number generator only once at the beginning. srand() should not be called within the loop.

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Even better, don't seed the generator at all. This makes debugging your program easier, since you get the exact same sequence of random numbers each time.

It is infuriating when your program crashes, and you cannot reproduce the crash because it depended on some particular sequence of random numbers.

Once you are confident that the code is working, THEN add a call to srand() to seed the generator. Also, print out the value of the seed, so that if you do get a crash, you can at least re-seed the generator with the appropriate value.

True, I've commented the seeding during the debugging process until the code appears to be working. If the program is a simulation it's particularly useful.

The alternative, for use when debugging, is to record the seed used.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by grumpy

The alternative, for use when debugging, is to record the seed used.

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A very useful bit of code:

Code:

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char *seed;
if((seed = getenv("RANDOM_SEED") != NULL)
{
    /* Seed the random generator */
    srand(atoi(seed));
}

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This way, you can specify the seed to use via the environment.