comments on random.hpp

From: nbecker_at_[hidden]
Date: 2001-03-29 13:23:09

Here are some of my thoughts on random.hpp.

1. The separation of design into underlying uniform generator and
   classes which transform into different distributions is useful (I
   first saw this concept in the old libg++).

2. Generators are bound to transformations by making the
   transformation class a template class with the underlying rng type as a
   paramater.  The rng ref is then passed to the constructor.
   Arguably, it is preferrable to defer the binding until it is
   finally needed.  This means the operator() is a template member
   which takes the rng& as an argument.

3. I don't understand the use of generator_iterator_mixin_adapter.  It
   appears that it's purpose is to give the random generator iterator
   semantics?  If this is true, it's not clear to me why this is
   important.  It seems to add quite a bit to the difficulty to
   understand the design, at least for someone that is not an expert
   in template usage.