C++ for Lazy Programmers: Quick, Easy, and Fun C++ for Beginners

© Will Briggs 2019

W. BriggsC++ for Lazy Programmershttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-5187-4_8

8. Functions (Continued)

Will Briggs¹ 

(1)

Lynchburg, VA, USA

 

More things about functions: random number functions, Boolean functions, parameters that change, and the scope (visibility) of variables.

Random numbers

Anyone who considers arithmetical methods of producing random numbers is, of course, in a state of sin.

—John von Neumann, inventor of FORTRAN (Goldstine, 1972)

Random numbers aren’t just useful for games. They’re useful for simulations – predicting the average behavior of some system – and for scientific computing. You can tell people that why you’re studying them. It isn’t for games. Honest.

But computers are orderly machines. They can’t really ...