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digitalmars.D.bugs - [Issue 2352] New: unittest fails randomly

reply d-bugmail puremagic.com writes:
http://d.puremagic.com/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=2352

           Summary: unittest fails randomly
           Product: D
           Version: 2.019
          Platform: PC
        OS/Version: Windows
            Status: NEW
          Severity: normal
          Priority: P2
         Component: Phobos
        AssignedTo: bugzilla digitalmars.com
        ReportedBy: bartosz relisoft.com


I run unittest a lot and from time to time I see this error:
Error: AssertError Failure std.random(476)
It's hard to reproduce.


--
Sep 10 2008
next sibling parent "Jarrett Billingsley" <jarrett.billingsley gmail.com> writes:
On Wed, Sep 10, 2008 at 7:17 PM,  <d-bugmail puremagic.com> wrote:

 http://d.puremagic.com/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=2352

           Summary: unittest fails randomly
           Product: D
           Version: 2.019
          Platform: PC
        OS/Version: Windows
            Status: NEW
          Severity: normal
          Priority: P2
         Component: Phobos
        AssignedTo: bugzilla digitalmars.com
        ReportedBy: bartosz relisoft.com


 I run unittest a lot and from time to time I see this error:
 Error: AssertError Failure std.random(476)
 It's hard to reproduce.


 --


Looks like the unpredictable seed... isn't so unpredictable!

Sorry.
Sep 10 2008
prev sibling next sibling parent d-bugmail puremagic.com writes:
http://d.puremagic.com/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=2352


andrei metalanguage.com changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Status|NEW                         |RESOLVED
         Resolution|                            |FIXED





The unpredictable seed is meant to vary from one run to the next, not
necessarily from one call to the next, so the test is a bit incorrect. The
function does this:

uint unpredictableSeed()
{
    static uint moseghint = 87324921;
    return cast(uint) (getpid ^ getUTCtime ^ ++moseghint);
}

(Bonus q: what does moseghint mean?)

If it so happens that getUTCtime and moseghint e.g. change only LSB in lockstep
from one call to the next, the returned values will be identical. I changed the
function to this:

uint unpredictableSeed()
{
    static bool seeded;
    static MinstdRand0 rand;
    if (!seeded) {
        rand.seed(getpid ^ getUTCtime);
    }
    return cast(uint) (getUTCtime ^ rand.next);
}

It'll be a bit slower but also quite a bit less predictable. But I also removed
the assert because even with the implementation above, it's not guaranteed that
two successive returns can't be equal.


--
Sep 10 2008
prev sibling parent d-bugmail puremagic.com writes:
http://d.puremagic.com/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=2352








 The unpredictable seed is meant to vary from one run to the next, not
 necessarily from one call to the next, so the test is a bit incorrect. The
 function does this:
 
 uint unpredictableSeed()
 {
     static uint moseghint = 87324921;
     return cast(uint) (getpid ^ getUTCtime ^ ++moseghint);
 }
 
 (Bonus q: what does moseghint mean?)
 
 If it so happens that getUTCtime and moseghint e.g. change only LSB in lockstep
 from one call to the next, the returned values will be identical. I changed the
 function to this:
 
 uint unpredictableSeed()
 {
     static bool seeded;
     static MinstdRand0 rand;
     if (!seeded) {
         rand.seed(getpid ^ getUTCtime);
     }
     return cast(uint) (getUTCtime ^ rand.next);
 }
 
 It'll be a bit slower but also quite a bit less predictable. But I also removed
 the assert because even with the implementation above, it's not guaranteed that
 two successive returns can't be equal.
 


I meant:

uint unpredictableSeed()
{
    static bool seeded;
    static MinstdRand0 rand;
    if (!seeded) {
        rand.seed(getpid ^ getUTCtime);
        seeded = true;
    }
    return cast(uint) (getUTCtime ^ rand.next);
}

It's in SVN.


--
Sep 10 2008