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This noncompliant code example generates a sequence of 10 pseudorandom numbers using the rand() function. When rand() is not seeded, it uses 1 as a default seed. No matter how many times this code is executed, it always produces the same sequence.

Code Block
bgColor#FFCCCC
langcpp
int i=0;
for (i=0; i<10; i++) {
    cout<<rand()<<", "; /* Always generates the same sequence */
}
output:
1st run: 41, 18467, 6334, 26500, 19169, 15724, 11478, 29358, 26962, 24464,
2nd run: 41, 18467, 6334, 26500, 19169, 15724, 11478, 29358, 26962, 24464,
...
nth run: 41, 18467, 6334, 26500, 19169, 15724, 11478, 29358, 26962, 24464,

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Use srand() before rand() to seed the random sequence generated by rand(). The code produces different random number sequences at different calls.

Code Block
bgColor#ccccff
langcpp
srand(time(NULL)); /* Create seed based on current time */
int i=0;
for (i=0; i<10; i++) {
    cout<<rand()<<", "; /* Generates different sequences at different runs */
}

output:
1st run: 25121, 15571, 29839, 2454, 6844, 10186, 27534, 6693, 12456, 5756,
2nd run: 25134, 25796, 2992, 403, 15334, 25893, 7216, 27752, 12966, 13931,
3rd run: 25503, 27950, 22795, 32582, 1233, 10862, 31243, 24650, 11000, 7328,
...

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This noncompliant code example generates a sequence of 10 pseudorandom numbers using the random() function. When random() is not seeded, it behaves like rand() and thus produces the same sequence of random numbers at different calls.

Code Block
bgColor#FFCCCC
langcpp
int i=0;
for (i=0; i<10; i++) {
    cout<<random()<<", "; /* Always generates the same sequence */
}
output:
1st run: 1804289383, 846930886, 1681692777, 1714636915, 1957747793, 424238335, 719885386, 1649760492, 596516649, 1189641421,
2nd run: 1804289383, 846930886, 1681692777, 1714636915, 1957747793, 424238335, 719885386, 1649760492, 596516649, 1189641421,
...
nth run: 1804289383, 846930886, 1681692777, 1714636915, 1957747793, 424238335, 719885386, 1649760492, 596516649, 1189641421,

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Use srandom() before random() to seed the random sequence generated by random(). The code produces different random number sequences at different calls.

Code Block
bgColor#ccccff
langcpp
srandom(time(NULL)); /* Create seed based on current time counted as seconds from 01/01/1970 */
int i=0;
for (i=0; i<10; i++) {
    cout<<random()<<", "; /* Generates different sequences at different runs */
}

output:
1st run: 198682410, 2076262355, 910374899, 428635843, 2084827500, 1558698420, 4459146, 733695321, 2044378618, 1649046624,
2nd run: 1127071427, 252907983, 1358798372, 2101446505, 1514711759, 229790273, 954268511, 1116446419, 368192457, 1297948050,
3rd run: 2052868434, 1645663878, 731874735, 1624006793, 938447420, 1046134947, 1901136083, 418123888, 836428296, 2017467418,
...

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