@thi.ng/random

What is @thi.ng/random?

@thi.ng/random is a versatile library for generating random numbers and sequences. It provides various random number generators (RNGs) and utilities for creating random values, sequences, and distributions.

What are @thi.ng/random's main functionalities?

Basic Random Number Generation

This feature allows you to generate basic random numbers, both floating-point and integer values, using the default system RNG.

const { SYSTEM } = require('@thi.ng/random');
const rng = SYSTEM;
console.log(rng.float()); // Generates a random float between 0 and 1
console.log(rng.int()); // Generates a random integer

Seeded Random Number Generation

This feature allows you to create a seeded random number generator, which produces reproducible sequences of random numbers.

const { XsAdd } = require('@thi.ng/random');
const rng = new XsAdd(12345); // Seeded RNG
console.log(rng.float()); // Generates a reproducible random float
console.log(rng.int()); // Generates a reproducible random integer

Random Value Generation from Arrays

This feature allows you to randomly select values from an array, which is useful for shuffling or sampling data.

const { SYSTEM } = require('@thi.ng/random');
const rng = SYSTEM;
const arr = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5];
console.log(rng.choice(arr)); // Randomly selects an element from the array

Random Distributions

This feature allows you to generate random numbers from various statistical distributions, such as normal (Gaussian) distributions.

const { SYSTEM } = require('@thi.ng/random');
const rng = SYSTEM;
console.log(rng.norm(0, 1)); // Generates a random number from a normal distribution with mean 0 and standard deviation 1

Other packages similar to @thi.ng/random

random-js

random-js is a library for generating random numbers and values. It provides a variety of RNGs and utilities for creating random values, similar to @thi.ng/random. However, random-js focuses more on providing a simple API for common randomization tasks.

seedrandom

seedrandom is a library for seeded random number generation. It allows you to create reproducible random sequences by providing a seed. While it offers fewer utilities compared to @thi.ng/random, it is highly focused on the quality and reproducibility of random numbers.

chance

chance is a library for generating random data for various purposes, including numbers, strings, and even entire objects. It offers a broader range of random data generation compared to @thi.ng/random, which is more focused on numerical randomization.

README

This project is part of the @thi.ng/umbrella monorepo and anti-framework.

• About
  • Random distributions
  • Other utilities
• Status
• Support packages
• Related packages
• Installation
• Dependencies
• Usage examples
• API
• Authors
• License

About

Pseudo-random number generators w/ unified API, distributions, weighted choices, ID generation.

This package provides the IRandom interface and various (mostly seedable) pseudo-random number generator implementations, incl. IRandom wrappers for Math.random() and window.crypto:

• Crypto
• SFC32
• Smush32
• System
• Xoshiro128
• XorShift128
• XorWow
• XsAdd

Partially ported from C implementations taken from c.thi.ng.

Random distributions

• exponential()
• gaussian()
• geometric()
• normal()
• uniform()

Other utilities

• coin() / fairCoin()
• pickRandom() / pickRandomKey()
• randomBytes() / randomBytesFrom()
• randomID()
• weightedRandom() / weightedRandomKey()
• uniqueIndices() / uniqueValuesFrom()
• uuidv4Bytes() / uuid()

Status

STABLE - used in production

Search or submit any issues for this package

Support packages

• @thi.ng/random-fxhash - @thi.ng/random compatible wrapper & utilities for fxhash's PRNG

Related packages

• @thi.ng/ksuid - Configurable K-sortable unique IDs, ULIDs, binary & base-N encoded, 32/48/64bit time resolutions

Installation

yarn add @thi.ng/random

ES module import:

<script type="module" src="https://cdn.skypack.dev/@thi.ng/random"></script>

Skypack documentation

For Node.js REPL:

const random = await import("@thi.ng/random");

Package sizes (brotli'd, pre-treeshake): ESM: 1.88 KB

Dependencies

• @thi.ng/api
• @thi.ng/checks
• @thi.ng/errors
• @thi.ng/hex

Usage examples

Several projects in this repo's /examples directory are using this package:

Screenshot	Description	Live demo	Source
	Self-modifying, animated typographic grid with emergent complex patterns	Demo	Source
	Probabilistic color theme generator	Demo	Source
	Interactive inverse FFT toy synth	Demo	Source
	2D Bezier curve-guided particle system	Demo	Source
	Barnsley fern IFS fractal renderer	Demo	Source
	k-means clustering visualization	Demo	Source
	Randomized space-filling, nested grid layout generator	Demo	Source
	Randomized 4-point 2D color gradient image generator	Demo	Source
	Interactive pixel sorting tool using thi.ng/color & thi.ng/pixel	Demo	Source
	Animated, iterative polygon subdivisions & visualization	Demo	Source
	Procedural stochastic text generation via custom DSL, parse grammar & AST transformation	Demo	Source
	Generative audio synth offline renderer and WAV file export	Demo	Source
	Evolutionary shader generation using genetic programming	Demo	Source
	Responsive & reactively computed stacked column layout	Demo	Source
	Game of Life implemented as WebGL2 multi-pass shader pipeline	Demo	Source

API

Generated API docs

import { Smush32 } from "@thi.ng/random";

const rnd = new Smush32(0xdecafbad);

// the following methods are available for all generators

// next uint (0 .. 2^32-1)
rnd.int()
// 4022849029

// next float [0.0 .. 1.0)
rnd.float()
// 0.2698542904737066

// next normalized float (w/ opt scale)
// [-scale .. +scale)
rnd.norm(100)
// 57.70723665079737

// next float in given interval [min .. max)
rnd.minmax(10, 20)
// 15.295951807707537

rnd.minmaxInt(10, 20)

Authors

• Karsten Schmidt

If this project contributes to an academic publication, please cite it as:

@misc{thing-random,
  title = "@thi.ng/random",
  author = "Karsten Schmidt",
  note = "https://thi.ng/random",
  year = 2015
}

License

© 2015 - 2023 Karsten Schmidt // Apache License 2.0