| =head1 NAME |
| |
| prng - pseudo-random number generator |
| |
| =head1 SYNOPSIS |
| |
| prng [count] |
| |
| =head1 DESCRIPTION |
| |
| B<Prng> generates 32-bit pseudo-random integers using the |
| Blum-Blum-Shub (BBS) quadratic residue generator. It is seeded using |
| the standard C library's rand() function, which itself seeded from the |
| system clock and the process ID number. Thus, the values generated |
| are not particularly useful for cryptographic applications, but they |
| are in general much better than the typical output of the usual |
| multiplicative congruency generator used by most runtime libraries. |
| |
| You may optionally specify how many random values should be generated |
| by giving a I<count> argument on the command line. If you do not |
| specify a count, only one random value will be generated. The results |
| are output to the standard output in decimal notation, one value per |
| line. |
| |
| =head1 RESTRICTIONS |
| |
| As stated above, B<prng> uses the C library's rand() function to seed |
| the generator, so it is not terribly suitable for cryptographic |
| applications. Also note that each time you run the program, a new |
| seed is generated, so it is better to run it once with a I<count> |
| parameter than it is to run it multiple times to generate several |
| values. |
| |
| =head1 AUTHOR |
| |
| Michael J. Fromberger <sting@linguist.dartmouth.edu> |
| Copyright (C) 1998 Michael J. Fromberger, All Rights Reserved |
| Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH USA |
