;
RANPACK.MAR Minimal Standard Pseudo-Random Number Generator
;> Extra additional hint: see Knuth, Donald E. "The Art of Computer
;> Programming: Volume 2 - Semi-Numerical Algorithms" on the subject. Damned
;> few pseudo random nubmer generators produce "good" sequences of random
;> numbers. As an example, the VAX C random number generator was criticized
;> here recently for alternately producing odd and even numbers. This was
;> explained as being "bug for bug" compatibility with Unix!
;
;Yep. The "standard" UNIX random number generator is worthless for anything
;but games. And I wouldn't even bet on that!
;
;> Another
;> generator has the interesting property that if successive "random" values
;> are plotted as points in 3D, they will fall in distinct planes. And so it
;> goes.
;
;The moral of the story is, if you need a real good one, use two fairly
;good generators (that hopefully use different techniques) and shuffle
;(the shuffling technique is described in Knuth) or hire a mathemetician!
;
;Here is an implementation in MACRO of a "Minimal Standard Pseudo-Random
;Number Generator" that was described in an article in the October 1988
;issue of CACM. As I recall it was supposed to be better than your average
;maximal-length linear congruential generator (it is not a maximal-length
;generator, but generates a sequence that is nearly maximal length, and it
;is very fast as well). No warranties expressed or implied of course. HTH.
.TITLE RANDPACK - Minimal Standard Pseudo-Random Number Generator
.IDENT 'V00-000'
;++
; FACILITY:
;
; VAX/VMS Minimal Standard Pseudo-Random Number Generator
;
; ABSTRACT:
;
; This package contains an efficient assembly-language implementation
; of the "minimal standard" random number generator similar to the
; one described in the article "Random: Number Generators: Good Ones
; are Hard to Find" by Stephen K. Park and Keith W. Miller, CACM
; vol. 31 no. 10 (Oct. 1988), pp 1192-1201.
;
; AUTHOR:
;
; 06-Feb-1989 James A. Harvey
;
; This program has been granted to the public domain by the author.
;
; Revision History:
;
; None (yet).
;
..SBTTL Symbolic Constants and Impure Data
MODULUS=2147483647 ; The modulus, m.
FMODULUS=^F2147483647.0 ; Ditto, as F-floating number.
MINSEED=1 ; The minimum value for SEED.
MAXSEED=2147483646 ; The maximum value for SEED.
MULTIPLIER=16807 ; The multiplier, a.
..PSECT RWDATA,LONG,NOSHR,WRT ; Impure data.
SEED: .LONG 1 ; The default seed.
TIME: .BLKQ 1 ; For calls to RANDOMIZE(0)
..SBTTL RANDOMIZE - Initialize the Pseudo-Random Number Generator
;++
;
; FUNCTIONAL DESCRIPTION:
;
; RANDOMIZE [seed]
;
; Initializes the pseudo-random number generator with the seed
; passed, if seed is in the range 1 to 2**31-2. If the seed
; argument is omitted or not in the valid range, the generator's
; seed is initialized based on the time of day as returned by the
; $GETTIM system service.
;
; CALLING SEQUENCE:
;
; Called with CALLS or CALLG to RANDOMIZE. The argument is
; optional.
;
; INPUT PARAMETERS:
;
; seed
; VMS Usage: longword_unsigned
; type: longword (unsigned)
; access: read only
; mechanism: by reference
;
; Seed is the initial seed for the random number generator. If
; the seed passed is not in the valid range of acceptable seeds
; (1 to 2**31-2) the generator's seed is initialized with a value
; based on the current system time as returned by the $GETTIM
; system service.
;
; RETURN VALUE:
;
; VMS Usage: longword_unsigned
; type: longword (unsigned)
; access: write only
; mechanism: by value
;
; RANDOMIZE returns the seed used to initialize the random number
; generator. This is always the same as the seed argument passed
; to RANDOMIZE if the argument was in the range 1 to 2**31-2. If
; the argument was omitted, or not in the required range, the
; returned value is the seed actually used to initialize the random
; number generator.
;
; SIDE EFFECTS:
;
; Updates SEED in impure data area.
; All registers except R0 and R1 are preserved.
;
..PSECT CODE,LONG,SHR,NOWRT
NARGS=0 ; Offset to number of arguments.
SEEDARG=4 ; Offset to optional seed argument.
..ENTRY RANDOMIZE,<0>
TSTB NARGS(AP) ; Any argument?
BEQLU 10$ ; No - randomize by time clock.
MOVL SEEDARG(AP),R0 ; Move argument to R0.
CMPL R0,#MINSEED ; Is argument less than 1?
BLSS 10$ ; If so, it's out of range.
CMPL R0,#MAXSEED ; Is argument greater than 2**31-2?
BLEQ 30$ ; If not, use it.
10$: $GETTIM TIMADR=TIME ; Get the system time in TIME:TIME+7
MOVL TIME,R0 ; Get high order word in R0.
XORL2 TIME+4,R0 ; Exclusive or in least sig. bits.
BICL2 #^X80000000,R0 ; Clear the sign bit.
CMPL R0,#MINSEED ; Is argument less than 1?
BLSS 20$ ; If so, it's out of range, use 1.
CMPL R0,#MAXSEED ; Is argument greater than 2**31-2?
BLEQ 30$ ; If not, use it.
20$: MOVL #1,R0 ; Use 1 if $GETTIM result out of range.
30$: MOVL R0,SEED ; Store the initial seed.
RET ; And return.
..SBTTL RANDOM - Return Next Pseudo-Random Uniform Variate on 0..1
;++
;
; FUNCTIONAL DESCRIPTION:
;
; RANDOM
;
; This routine returns an F_floating pseudo-random number uniformly
; distributed in the range 0..1.
;
; CALLING SEQUENCE:
;
; Called with CALLS or CALLG to RANDOM. No arguments are required.
;
; INPUT PARAMETERS:
;
; None.
;
; RETURNS:
;
; VMS Usage: floating_point
; type: F_floating
; access: write only
; mechanism: by value
;
; RANDOM routine returns an F_floating pseudo-random number uniformly
; distributed in the range 0..1.
;
; SIDE EFFECTS:
;
; Updates SEED in impure data area.
; All registers except R0 and R1 are preserved.
;
..PSECT CODE,LONG,SHR,NOWRT
..ENTRY RANDOM,<0>
EMUL #MULTIPLIER,SEED,#0,R0 ; R0 = a * z
EDIV #MODULUS,R0,SEED,SEED ; z = (a * z) mod m.
CVTLF SEED,R0 ; R0 = float(z)
DIVF2 #FMODULUS,R0 ; R0 = float(z) / float(m).
RET
..ENTRY GETSEED,<0>
MOVL SEED,R0
RET
..END