[stella] entropy & randomness

Subject: [stella] entropy & randomness
From: "B. Watson" <atari@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 8 Oct 2001 23:43:53 -0400 (EDT)
I'm messing with the random number generator from Suicide Mission. Here it
is for reference:

RND    LDA RNDL
       LSR
       LSR
       SBC RNDL
       LSR
       ROR RNDH
       ROR RNDL
       LDA RNDL
       RTS

...my question is, would it be more `random' to call this once every frame,
or only when I actually need a random number (maybe less than once a frame,
the program I'm messing with changes COLUBK every 32 frames)

also... in an actual game, would it help randomize things to do something
like INC RNDL every time the player presses the fire button, or would this
actually make the sequence more predictable?

I guess I should go & find some papers on chaos theory or something, but the
math is beyond me. I never learned much about statistical analysis, but it'd
be interesting to be able to test `how random' my random numbers are. Any
pointers?

B.

---

If a trainstation is the place where trains stop, what is a workstation?



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