Re: Make a random-state from a non-random source

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From	Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca>
Newsgroups	comp.lang.lisp
Subject	Re: Make a random-state from a non-random source
Date	Mon, 11 May 2026 11:23:31 -0400
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tfb [2026-05-09 18:20:49] wrote:
> Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> wrote:
>> I guess I could print a random state into a file and then read it back in,
>> but that depends on internals, so it's doubly messy.
> It only depends on internals in the sense that you don't know what the
> details of a random-state object are.  You *do* know that printing and then
> reading one results in an equivalent object.
>
> So all you need to do is (inside with-standard-io-syntax if need be) is
> print one.  Then you can simply say
>
> (defvar *my-random-state*
>   #+<impl>
>   <paste thing you just printed>
>   ... versions for any other implementations ...
>   #-(or <impl> ...)
>   (error "add a case"))

Hmm... interesting.  So that a case where the availability of
reader-level conditionals has influenced the design of a "primitive".
Thanks,


=== Stefan

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Make a random-state from a non-random source Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> - 2026-05-04 12:46 -0400
  Re: Make a random-state from a non-random source Alan Bawden <alan@csail.mit.edu> - 2026-05-05 00:45 -0400
    Re: Make a random-state from a non-random source Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> - 2026-05-05 16:03 -0400
  Re: Make a random-state from a non-random source tfb <no_email@invalid.invalid> - 2026-05-09 18:20 +0000
    Re: Make a random-state from a non-random source Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> - 2026-05-11 11:23 -0400

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