Re: [Boost-users] seed for pseudiorandom generator

Subject: Re: [Boost-users] seed for pseudiorandom generator
From: Kraus Philipp (philipp.kraus_at_[hidden])
Date: 2012-08-26 09:42:45

Am 26.08.2012 um 14:18 schrieb Júlio Hoffimann:

> Sorry, i didn't understood yet.
> 
> Are you saying you aren't using the boost::random::mt19937 specialization? Because it's there just for people who don't have the background to choose an appropriate parametrization (like me who don't have a PhD on random generators).
> typedef mersenne_twister_engine< uint32_t, 32, 624, 397, 31, 0x9908b0df, 11, 0xffffffff, 7, 0x9d2c5680, 15, 0xefc60000, 18, 1812433253 > mt19937;
> 
> The last statement at this section: http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_51_0/doc/html/boost_random/reference.html#boost_random.reference.generators

I create within a class the MT object with

static boost::mt19937 m_random;

so I need for a static variable for the initialization value, so I do this with

boost::mt19937 tools::random::m_random( time(NULL) );

Now: My question is, can I use the time() value for initialization the MT object, so that the MT object returns values with a good entropie or
should I need another initialization value like a UUID of the OS?

Because the time function ( http://www.cplusplus.com/reference/clibrary/ctime/time/ ) returns a time_t value, so is this value good for initialization or should I need another value, if yes, which value if a good choice for
initialize the MT object?

Phil