[Numpy-discussion] random number generation in python compared to gsl

[David Cournapeau]

Sebastian Haase wrote:
>
> Hi,
> how about other seed values ?  I thought seed=0, is (often) used to
> mean a "random", i.e. current time or alike, seed value ... !?
>   

Not really. A fixed seed means you will always get the exact same serie
of numbers. The seed is the initial condition of your random generator,
and a random generator is a totally predictable, deterministic process.
The (pseudo) randomness is a consequence of having a random, unknown
seed, causing the serie to behave seemingly random to most statistical
tests. This can be time, keystrokes, etc...

cheers,

David