#!./perl # From Tom Phoenix 22 Feb 1997 # Based upon a test script by kgb@ast.cam.ac.uk (Karl Glazebrook) # Looking for the hints? You're in the right place. # The hints are near each test, so search for "TEST #", where # the pound sign is replaced by the number of the test. # I'd like to include some more robust tests, but anything # too subtle to be detected here would require a time-consuming # test. Also, of course, we're here to detect only flaws in Perl; # if there are flaws in the underlying system rand, that's not # our responsibility. But if you want better tests, see # The Art of Computer Programming, Donald E. Knuth, volume 2, # chapter 3. ISBN 0-201-03822-6 (v. 2) BEGIN { chdir "t" if -d "t"; require "./test.pl"; set_up_inc( qw(. ../lib) ); } use strict; use Config; my $reps = 100_000; # How many times to try rand each time. # May be changed, but should be over 500. # The more the better! (But slower.) my $bits = 8; # how many significant bits we check on each random number my $nslots = (1<< $bits); # how many different numbers plan(tests => 7 + $nslots); # First, let's see whether randbits is set right and that rand() returns # an even distribution of values { my $sum; my @slots = (0) x $nslots; my $prob = 1/$nslots; # probability of a particular slot being # on a particular iteration # We are going to generate $reps random numbers, each in the range # 0..$nslots-1. They should be evenly distributed. We use @slots to # count the number of occurrences of each number. For each count, we # check that it is in the range we expect. For example for reps = # 100_000 and using 8 bits, we expect each count to be around # 100_000/256 = 390. How much around it we tolerate depends on the # standard deviation, and how many deviations we allow. If we allow # 6-sigmas, then that means that in only 1 run in 506e6 will be get a # failure by chance, assuming a fair random number generator. Given # that we test each slot, the overall chance of a false negative in # this test script is about 1 in 2e6, assuming 256 slots. # # the actual count in a slot should follow a binomial distribution # (e.g. rolling 18 dice, we 'expect' to see 3 sixes, but there's # actually a 24% chance of 3, a 20% change of 2 or 4, a 12% # chance of 1 or 5, and a 4% chance of 0 or 6 of them). # # This makes it easy to calculate the expected mean a standard # deviation; see # https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binomial_distribution#Variance my $mean = $reps * $prob; my $stddev = sqrt($reps * $prob * (1 - $prob)); my $sigma6 = $stddev * 6.0; # very unlikely to be outside that range my $min = $mean - $sigma6; my $max = $mean + $sigma6; note("reps=$reps; slots=$nslots; min=$min mean=$mean max=$max"); for (1..$reps) { my $n = rand(1); if ($n < 0.0 or $n >= 1.0) { diag(<= 1.0. Make sure \$Config{drand01} is a valid expression in the C-language, and produces values in the range [0.0,1.0). I give up. EOM exit; } $slots[int($n * $nslots)]++; } for my $i (0..$nslots - 1) { # this test should randomly fail very rarely. If it fails # for you, try re-running this test script a few more times; # if it goes away, it was likely a random (ha ha!) glitch. # If you keep seeing failures, it means your random number # generator is producing a very uneven spread of values. ok($slots[$i] >= $min && $slots[$i] <= $max, "checking slot $i") or diag("slot $i; count $slots[$i] outside expected range $min..$max"); } } # Now, let's see whether rand accepts its argument { my($max, $min); $max = $min = rand(100); for (1..$reps) { my $n = rand(100); $max = $n if $n > $max; $min = $n if $n < $min; } # This test checks to see that rand(100) really falls # within the range 0 - 100, and that the numbers produced # have a reasonably-large range among them. # cmp_ok($min, '>=', 0, "rand(100) >= 0"); cmp_ok($max, '<', 100, "rand(100) < 100"); cmp_ok($max - $min, '>=', 65, "rand(100) in 65 range"); # This test checks that rand without an argument # is equivalent to rand(1). # $_ = 12345; # Just for fun. srand 12345; my $r = rand; srand 12345; is(rand(1), $r, 'rand() without args is rand(1)'); # This checks that rand without an argument is not # rand($_). (In case somebody got overzealous.) # cmp_ok($r, '<', 1, 'rand() without args is under 1'); } { # [perl #115928] use a standard rand() implementation srand(1); is(int rand(1000), 41, "our own implementation behaves consistently"); is(int rand(1000), 454, "and still consistently"); }