help with random numbers and seeding?

[owner-swarm-support]

Greetings SWARM folks, 

I'm currently putting together a simple program that explores random
number generation. I've put together the following code:

==== begin ====

//main.m

#import <simtools.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#import <random.h>

int

main(int argc, char ** argv)
{
        int i;
        int maxAge = 10;
        int age = 0;
        
        initSwarm(argc, argv);
        
        while(age < maxAge) 
        {
                age++;
                printf("Hey, the random number is %d \n",
[uniformIntRand getIntegerWithMin: 0 withMax: 100]);            
        }
        
        return 0;
}

==== end ====

Indeed, I get a list of random numbers, but they appear to be
pseudo-random. That is, the same sequence results each time I run the
compiled application.

My questions are:

1) Is this the best (or, at least, not worst) way to 'pull' a number
from a uniform distribution? Eventually, I'd like to pull a number
between 0 and 1 that I can use for simulating stochastic events.
2) What is the best way to seed the RNG so that I get a different
sequence of numbers each time I run the application?
3) Is there a super great place to read up on the random.h library? In
particular, something accessible to a newbie that would have
illustrative code?

Cheers,

Joseph Villa



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