21.9 The Class java.util.Random

public class Random {
	protected long seed;
	protected double nextNextGaussian;
	protected boolean haveNextNextGaussian = false;
	public Random();
	public Random(long seed);
	public void setSeed(long seed);
	protected int next(int bits);
	public int nextInt();
	public long nextLong();
	public float nextFloat();
	public double nextDouble();
	public double nextGaussian();
}

The algorithms implemented by class Random use three state variables, which are protected. They also use a protected utility method that on each invocation can supply up to up to 32 pseudorandomly generated bits.

21.9.1 protected long seed;

A variable used by method next (§21.9.7) to hold the state of the pseudorandom number generator.

21.9.2 protected double nextNextGaussian;

A variable used by method nextGaussian (§21.9.12) to hold a precomputed value to be delivered by that method the next time it is called.

21.9.3 protected boolean haveNextNextGaussian = false;

A variable used by method nextGaussian (§21.9.12) to keep track of whether it has precomputed and stashed away the next value to be delivered by that method.

21.9.4 public Random()

This constructor initializes a newly created Random number generator by using the current time of day (§20.18.6) as a seed.

public Random() { this(System.currentTimeMillis()); }

21.9.5 public Random(long seed)

This constructor initializes a newly created Random number generator by using the argument seed as a seed.

public Random(long seed) { setSeed(seed); }

21.9.6 public void setSeed(long seed)

The general contract of setSeed is that it alters the state of this random number generator object so as to be in exactly the same state as if it had just been created with the argument seed as a seed.

The method setSeed is implemented by class Random as follows:

synchronized public void setSeed(long seed) {
	this.seed = (seed ^ 0x5DEECE66DL) & ((1L << 48) - 1);
	haveNextNextGaussian = false;
}

[In certain early versions of Java, the setSeed method failed to reset the value of haveNextNextGaussian to false; this flaw could lead to failure to produce repeatable behavior.]

21.9.7 protected int next(int bits)

The general contract of next is that it returns an int value and if the argument bits is between 1 and 32 (inclusive), then that many low-order bits of the returned value will be (approximately) independently chosen bit values, each of which is (approximately) equally likely to be 0 or 1.

The method next is implemented by class Random as follows:

synchronized protected int next(int bits) {
	seed = (seed * 0x5DEECE66DL + 0xBL) & ((1L << 48) - 1);
	return (int)(seed >>> (48 - bits));
}

21.9.8 public int nextInt()

The general contract of nextInt is that one int value is pseudorandomly generated and returned. All possible int values are produced with (approximately) equal probability.

The method setSeed is implemented by class Random as follows:

public int nextInt() {  return next(32); }

21.9.9 public long nextLong()

The general contract of nextLong is that one long value is pseudorandomly generated and returned. All possible long values are produced with (approximately) equal probability.

The method setSeed is implemented by class Random as follows:

public long nextLong() {
	return ((long)next(32) << 32) + next(32);
}

21.9.10 public float nextFloat()

The general contract of nextFloat is that one float value, chosen (approximately) uniformly from the range 0.0f (inclusive) to 1.0f (exclusive), is pseudorandomly generated and returned. All possible float values of the form , where m is a positive integer less than , are produced with (approximately) equal probability.

The method setSeed is implemented by class Random as follows:

public float nextFloat() {
	return next(24) / ((float)(1 << 24));
}

[In early versions of Java, the result was incorrectly calculated as:

	return next(30) / ((float)(1 << 30));

21.9.11 public double nextDouble()

The general contract of nextDouble is that one double value, chosen (approximately) uniformly from the range 0.0d (inclusive) to 1.0d (exclusive), is pseudorandomly generated and returned. All possible float values of the form , where m is a positive integer less than , are produced with (approximately) equal probability.

The method setSeed is implemented by class Random as follows:

public double nextDouble() {
	return (((long)next(26) << 27) + next(27))
				/ (double)(1L << 53);
}

[In early versions of Java, the result was incorrectly calculated as:

	return (((long)next(27) << 27) + next(27))
				/ (double)(1L << 54);

21.9.12 public double nextGaussian()

The general contract of nextGaussian is that one double value, chosen from (approximately) the usual normal distribution with mean 0.0 and standard deviation 1.0, is pseudorandomly generated and returned.

The method setSeed is implemented by class Random as follows:

synchronized public double nextGaussian() {
	if (haveNextNextGaussian) {
		haveNextNextGaussian = false;
		return nextNextGaussian;
	} else {
		double v1, v2, s;
		do { 
			v1 = 2 * nextDouble() - 1; 	// between -1.0 and 1.0
			v2 = 2 * nextDouble() - 1; 	// between -1.0 and 1.0
			s = v1 * v1 + v2 * v2;
		} while (s >= 1);
		double norm = Math.sqrt(-2 * Math.log(s)/s);
		nextNextGaussian = v2 * norm;
		haveNextNextGaussian = true;
		return v1 * norm;
	}
}

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