How do you generate a random double uniformly distributed between 0 and 1 from C++?

Question

How do you generate a random double uniformly distributed between 0 and 1 from C++?

Of course I can think of some answers, but I\'d like to know what the standard pr

Answer 1

Well considering simplicity and speed as your primary criteria, you can add a small generic helper like this :-

  // C++ rand generates random numbers between 0 and RAND_MAX. This is quite a big range
  // Normally one would want the generated random number within a range to be really
  // useful. So the arguments have default values which can be overridden by the caller
  int nextRandomNum(int low = 0, int high = 100) const {
    int range = (high - low) + 1;
    // this modulo operation does not generate a truly uniformly distributed random number
    // in the span (since in most cases lower numbers are slightly more likely), 
    // but it is generally a good approximation for short spans. Use it if essential
    //int res = ( std::rand() % high + low );
    int res = low + static_cast( ( range * std::rand() / ( RAND_MAX + 1.0) ) );
    return res;
  }

Random number generation is a well studied, complex and advanced topic. You can find some simple but useful algorithms here apart from the ones mentioned in other answers:-

Eternally Confuzzled