Python in a Nutshell

The random Module

The random module generates pseudo-random numbers with various distributions. The underlying uniform pseudo-random generator uses the Whichmann-Hill algorithm, with a period of length 6,953,607,871,644. The resulting pseudo-random numbers, while quite good, are not of cryptographic quality. If you want physically generated random numbers rather than algorithmically generated pseudo-random numbers, you may use /dev/random or /dev/urandom on platforms that support such pseudo-devices (such as recent Linux releases). For an alternative, see http://www.fourmilab.ch/hotbits.

All functions of module random are methods of a hidden instance of class random.Random. You can instantiate Random explicitly to get multiple generators that do not share state. Explicit instantiation is advisable if you require random numbers in multiple threads (threads are covered in Chapter 14). This section documents the most frequently used functions exposed by module random.