/security/nss/lib/freebl/mpi/doc/prng.pod
http://github.com/zpao/v8monkey · Unknown · 41 lines · 29 code · 12 blank · 0 comment · 0 complexity · 76e6169f8ee4a9e2373e980afdfbd383 MD5 · raw file
- =head1 NAME
- prng - pseudo-random number generator
- =head1 SYNOPSIS
- prng [count]
- =head1 DESCRIPTION
- B<Prng> generates 32-bit pseudo-random integers using the
- Blum-Blum-Shub (BBS) quadratic residue generator. It is seeded using
- the standard C library's rand() function, which itself seeded from the
- system clock and the process ID number. Thus, the values generated
- are not particularly useful for cryptographic applications, but they
- are in general much better than the typical output of the usual
- multiplicative congruency generator used by most runtime libraries.
- You may optionally specify how many random values should be generated
- by giving a I<count> argument on the command line. If you do not
- specify a count, only one random value will be generated. The results
- are output to the standard output in decimal notation, one value per
- line.
- =head1 RESTRICTIONS
- As stated above, B<prng> uses the C library's rand() function to seed
- the generator, so it is not terribly suitable for cryptographic
- applications. Also note that each time you run the program, a new
- seed is generated, so it is better to run it once with a I<count>
- parameter than it is to run it multiple times to generate several
- values.
- =head1 AUTHOR
- Michael J. Fromberger <sting@linguist.dartmouth.edu>
- Copyright (C) 1998 Michael J. Fromberger, All Rights Reserved
- Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH USA
- $Date: 2000/07/14 00:44:36 $