How does a random number generator work?

Question

How do random number generator works? (for example in C/C++ Java)

How can I write my own random number generator? (for example in C/C++ Java)

Answer 1

here is some code for rolling dice it uses a random number generator I developed myself the pad in this RNG hold hexadecimal values 15 of them in all

 DIM pad(15) AS INTEGER
CLS
egg$ = "EFCDBA01457FA968"
  ghh$ = egg$
 nom% = 0
zen% = LEN(ghh$)
WHILE zen% > 0
opp$ = LEFT$(ghh$, 1)
eff% = ASC(opp$)
IF eff% >= 48 AND eff% <= 57 THEN eff% = eff% - 48 ELSE eff% = (eff% - 65) + 10
IF eff% > 15 THEN eff% = eff% - 32
pad(nom%) = eff%
nom% = nom% + 1
zen% = LEN(ghh$) - 1
ypp$ = RIGHT$(ghh$, zen%)
ghh$ = ypp$
WEND
sol& = 0
FOR zyx% = 0 TO 3
sol& = sol& * 16
sol& = sol& + pad(zyx%)
NEXT zyx%
sat% = sol& - 32768
RANDOMIZE sat%
FOR zyx% = 0 TO 15
PRINT HEX$(pad(zyx%));
NEXT zyx%
RANDOMIZE TIMER
respawn:
INPUT "sides per die"; die%
INPUT " number of dice"; dice%
INPUT "number to add to dice roll can be negative"; num%
INPUT "multiplier use 1 if so desired single precision floating point number"; g!
PRINT " hit any key to roll again with these values hit n for new values and q to quit"
PRINT " the number will be added or subtracted first before the multiplier takes effect"
reroll:
sum! = 0
FOR x% = 1 TO dice%
GOSUB rndmz
GOSUB demf
GOSUB drand
k% = INT(dr# * die%) + 1
sum! = sum! + k%
NEXT x%
sum! = (sum! + num) * g!
PRINT "you rolled a :"; sum!
i$ = ""
WHILE i$ = "": i$ = INKEY$: WEND
IF i$ = "n" THEN GOTO respawn
IF i$ = "q" THEN GOTO theend
GOTO reroll
theend:
SYSTEM
END
rndmz: rhet$ = ""
zum% = 0
FOR yxz% = 0 TO 15
FOR zyx% = 0 TO 15
IF zyx% MOD 3 = 0 THEN zum% = (zum% + pad(zyx%)) MOD 16
IF zyx% MOD 3 = 1 THEN zum% = (zum% + 16 - pad(zyx%)) MOD 16
IF zyx% MOD 3 = 2 THEN zum% = (zum% + INT(RND * 16)) MOD 16
NEXT zyx%
rhet$ = rhet$ + HEX$(zum%)
NEXT yxz%
ghh$ = rhet$
RETURN
demf: nom% = 0
zen% = LEN(ghh$)
WHILE zen% > 0
opp$ = LEFT$(ghh$, 1)
eff% = ASC(opp$)
IF eff% >= 48 AND eff% <= 57 THEN eff% = eff% - 48 ELSE eff% = (eff% - 65) + 10
IF eff% > 15 THEN eff% = eff% - 32
pad(nom%) = eff%
nom% = nom% + 1
zen% = LEN(ghh$) - 1
ypp$ = RIGHT$(ghh$, zen%)
ghh$ = ypp$
WEND
FOR zyx% = 0 TO 15
'PRINT HEX$(pad(zyx%));
NEXT zyx%
RETURN
drand: dr# = pad(0)
FOR eff% = 1 TO 15
dr# = dr# / 16
dr# = dr# + pad(eff%)
NEXT eff%
dr# = dr# / 16
RETURN
derf: a# = 1
x# = 1
b# = 1 / (2 ^ .5)
c# = .2500000000000011#
FOR u% = 1 TO 3
y# = a#
a# = (a# + b#) / 2
b# = (b# * y#) ^ .5
c# = c# - x# * (a# - y#) ^ 2
x# = 2 * x#
pi# = ((a# + b#) ^ 2) / (4 * c#)
PRINT pi#
NEXT u%
pi# = pi# + .000000000000015#
PRINT pi#

this here at the end calculates pi to almost as many places possible in just 3 loops through the algorythm sorry about it being written in archaic basic language, it's the only programing language I know, it might be possible to port this over to c++ or Java
Just take a careful look at the logic of this and especially close attention to the priming or seeding / initialization procedures, which must be used or it will fail as a good rng... this is one I developed for gaming purposes where having huge security is not as much of a concern as speed...