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Math-Random-Secure-0.080001
River stage two • 19 direct dependents • 29 total dependents
/ Math::Random::Secure::RNG

NAME

Math::Random::Secure::RNG - The underlying PRNG, as an object.

VERSION

version 0.080001

SYNOPSIS

use Math::Random::Secure::RNG;
my $rng = Math::Random::Secure::RNG->new();
my $int = $rng->irand();

DESCRIPTION

This represents a random number generator, as an object.

Generally, you shouldn't have to worry about this, and you should just use Math::Random::Secure. But if for some reason you want to modify how the random number generator works or you want an object-oriented interface to a random-number generator, you can use this.

METHODS

irand

Generates a random unsigned 32-bit integer.

rand

Generates a random floating-point number greater than or equal to 0 and less than 1.

ATTRIBUTES

These are all options that can be passed to new() or called as methods on an existing object.

rng

The underlying random number generator. Defaults to an instance of Math::Random::ISAAC.

seed

The random data used to seed "rng", as a string of bytes. This should be large enough to properly seed "rng". This means minimally, it should be 8 bytes (64 bits) and more ideally, 32 bytes (256 bits) or 64 bytes (512 bits). For an idea of how large your seed should be, see http://burtleburtle.net/bob/crypto/magnitude.html#brute for information on how long it would take to brute-force seeds of each size.

Note that seed should not be an integer, but a string of bytes.

It is very important that the seed be large enough, and also that the seed be very random. There are serious attacks possible against random number generators that are seeded with non-random data or with insufficient random data.

By default, we use a 512-bit (64 byte) seed. If Moore's Law continues to hold true, it will be approximately 1000 years before computers can brute-force a 512-bit (64 byte) seed at any reasonable speed (and physics suggests that computers will never actually become that fast, although there could always be improvements or new methods of computing we can't now imagine, possibly making Moore's Law continue to hold true forever).

If you pass this to new(), "seeder" and "seed_size" will be ignored.

seeder

An instance of Crypt::Random::Source::Base that will be used to get the seed for "rng".

seed_size

How much data (in bytes) should be read using "seeder" to seed "rng". Defaults to 64 bytes (which is 512 bits).

See "seed" for more info about what is a reasonable seed size.

SEE ALSO

Math::Random::Secure

AUTHORS

  • Max Kanat-Alexander <mkanat@cpan.org>

  • Arthur Axel "fREW" Schmidt <math-random-secure@afoolishmanifesto.com>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

This software is Copyright (c) 2010 by BugzillaSource, Inc.

This is free software, licensed under:

The Artistic License 2.0 (GPL Compatible)