RE: [proposal] Concerns about math.random

[Thijs Schreijer <thijs@...>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: lua-l-bounces@lists.lua.org [mailto:lua-l-bounces@lists.lua.org] On
> Behalf Of Liam Devine
> Sent: zaterdag 22 maart 2014 11:49
> To: Lua mailing list
> Subject: Re: [proposal] Concerns about math.random
> 
> On 22/03/14 10:16, Jeremy Ong wrote:
> >
> > That said,
> > I think the documentation should make it clear that math.random will
> > not produce good results and shouldn't be used for any crypto
> > whatsoever.
> >
> 
> Well, it basically already says that in a clear mannor:
> "This function is an interface to the simple pseudo-random generator
> function rand provided by Standard C. (No guarantees can be given for
> its statistical properties.)"
> 
> 
> --
> Liam

Correct, but it has no mention of the dangers of an overflow for the seed (I would welcome a default protection that the seed would only use the least significant bits in case of an overflow, instead of silently letting go of all randomness)

Thijs