in reply to Re: Old random number generator
in thread Old random number generator

syphilis wonders how one can override a system build-in sub, here is how to override rand() with your own algorithm or calling external module

Thank you for that.
I had come close ... but still managed to miss the correct incantation I was looking for.
I had done:
BEGIN { *CORE::GLOBAL::srand = \&my_srand; *CORE::GLOBAL::rand = \&my_rand; };
but failed to declare my_rand() and my_srand() inside the BEGIN{} block.
Not a very intelligent mistake to make ... but then, that's the nature of mistakes ;-)

I don't see a need for named subs anyway, and I think it looks more natural to use anonymous subs as you have done.
Here's a working version of what I was trying to come up with, by using named subs.
use warnings; use strict; BEGIN { *CORE::GLOBAL::srand = \&my_srand; *CORE::GLOBAL::rand = \&my_rand; sub my_srand { use Win32::API; my $srand = Win32::API::More->new( 'msvcrt', 'void srand(unsigned int seed)' ) or die "Error: ".Win32::FormatMessage(Win32::GetLastError()); $srand->Call($_[0]); } sub my_rand { my $rand = Win32::API::More->new( 'msvcrt', 'int rand()' ) or die "Error: ".Win32::FormatMessage(Win32::GetLastError()); return int(($rand->Call()) * $_[0] / 32767); } } srand(0); print int(rand(99)) for 0..9; __END__ Outputs 023647263525973192
(However, I personally prefer the use of Inline::C, rather than Win32::API.)

Cheers,
Rob