I'm new to Go and not sure why it prints the same number for rand.Intn(n int) int for every run:
package main
import (
"fmt"
"math/rand"
)
func main() {
fmt.Println(rand.Intn(10))
}
The docs says :
Intn returns, as an int, a non-negative pseudo-random number in [0,n) from the default Source. It panics if n <= 0.
And how do I properly seed the random number generation?
By calling the rand.Seed() function, passing it a (random) seed (typically the current unix timestamp). Quoting from math/rand package doc:
Top-level functions, such as Float64 and Int, use a default shared Source that produces a deterministic sequence of values each time a program is run. Use the Seed function to initialize the default Source if different behavior is required for each run.
Example:
rand.Seed(time.Now().UnixNano())
If rand.Seed() is not called, the generator behaves as if seeded by 1:
Seed uses the provided seed value to initialize the default Source to a deterministic state. If Seed is not called, the generator behaves as if seeded by Seed(1).
package main
import
(
"fmt"
"math/rand"
"time"
)
func randomGen(min, max int) int {
rand.Seed(time.Now().Unix())
return rand.Intn(max - min) + min
}
func main() {
randNum := randomGen(1, 10)
fmt.Println(randNum)
}
Under the package, math/rand, you can find a type Rand.
func New(src Source) *Rand - New returns a new Rand that uses random values from src to generate other random values.
It actually needs a seed to generate it.
Example:
package main
import (
"fmt"
"math/rand"
"time"
)
func main() {
source := rand.NewSource(time.Now().UnixNano())
r := rand.New(source)
fmt.Println(r.Intn(100))
}