26 Numerics library [numerics]

26.6 Random number generation [rand]

26.6.6 Class random_device [rand.device]

1

A random_device uniform random bit generator produces nondeterministic random numbers.

2

If implementation limitations prevent generating nondeterministic random numbers, the implementation may employ a random number engine.

class random_device{
public:
 // types
 using result_type = unsigned int;

 // generator characteristics
 static constexpr result_type min() { return numeric_limits<result_type>::min(); }
 static constexpr result_type max() { return numeric_limits<result_type>::max(); }

 // constructors
 explicit random_device(const string& token = implementation-defined);

 // generating functions
 result_type operator()();

 // property functions
 double entropy() const noexcept;

 // no copy functions
 random_device(const random_device& ) = delete;
 void operator=(const random_device& ) = delete;
};

explicit random_device(const string& token = implementation-defined);

3

Effects: Constructs a random_device nondeterministic uniform random bit generator object. The semantics and default value of the token parameter are implementation-defined. 272

4

Throws: A value of an implementation-defined type derived from exception if the random_device could not be initialized.

double entropy() const noexcept;

5

Returns: If the implementation employs a random number engine, returns 0.0. Otherwise, returns an entropy estimate273 for the random numbers returned by operator(), in the range min() to log2( max()+1).

result_type operator()();

6

Returns: A nondeterministic random value, uniformly distributed between min() and max(), inclusive. It is implementation-defined how these values are generated.

7

Throws: A value of an implementation-defined type derived from exception if a random number could not be obtained.

272)

The parameter is intended to allow an implementation to differentiate between different sources of randomness.

273)

If a device has n states whose respective probabilities are P0, …, Pn-1 , the device entropy S is defined as
$ S = - \sum_{i=0}^{n-1} P_i \cdot \log P_i $.