Re: [Boost-users] [Random] Passing an arbitrary uniform random number generator to a function

26 Apr 2010

      AMDG

Neal Becker wrote:
...
Joseph Wakeling wrote:
...
Suppose that I have a function that takes a uniform random number
generator as an argument, e.g.
double foo(mt19937 &urng)
    {
        double x = uniform_real<double> (0.0, 10.0) (urng);
        double y = uniform_real<double> (5.0, 7.0) (urng);
return (x*y);
    }
Is there a way to make the choice of random number generator arbitrary
(i.e. not limited to mt19937) without making the function a template?
Alternatively, is there a better way of passing around the basic uniform
random number generator?
The reason for the no-template rule is that I would like to pass a URNG
to a virtual function in a class, and I would really not like to have to
make the class itself a template dependent on the type of URNG.
Can someone recommend a solution?
Thanks and best wishes,
member func can be template without class class being template.
A virtual function can't be a template.

You might be able to use something like this:

template<class ResultType>
class runtime_generator {
public:
    ResultType min() const { return min_; }
    ResultType max() const { return max_; }
    ResultType operator()() { return impl(); }
private:
    ResultType min_, max_;
    boost::function<ResultType()> impl;
};

In Christ,
Steven Watanabe