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Testing random number generators with DieHarder
Raw
randout.js
#!/usr/bin/env node
var argv = require('minimist')(process.argv.slice(2));
function ParkMiller(seed) {
this._seed = seed % 2147483647;
if (this._seed <= 0) this._seed += 2147483646;
}
ParkMiller.prototype.next = function () {
return this._seed = this._seed * 16807 % 2147483647;
};
var SEED = argv.seed || 1,
COUNT = argv.count || 100000,
PRNG = argv.prng || 'ParkMiller';
var RandomClass = eval(PRNG);
if (!RandomClass) {
throw new Error('Invalid PRNG ' + PRNG);
}
process.stdout.write('# ' + PRNG + '\n');
process.stdout.write('# seed: ' + SEED + '\n');
process.stdout.write('type: d\n');
process.stdout.write('count: ' + COUNT + '\n');
process.stdout.write('numbit: 32\n');
var r = new RandomClass(SEED);
for (var i = 0; i < COUNT; i++) {
var num = r.next().toString();
num = ' '.slice(0, 10 - num.length) + num;
process.stdout.write(num + '\n');
}
Raw
TestingRNGs.md

Testing random number generators with DieHarder

This guide is specifically for pseudo-random number generators (PRNGs) written in JavaScript, and tested in Mac OS X.

Prerequisites

Homebrew
Run this in the Terminal to install Homebrew (site):

ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.github.com/Homebrew/homebrew/go/install)"

Node.js
You can now use Homebrew to install Node.js (site):

brew install node

DieHarder
Homebrew also lets you install Dieharder, the tool that tests RNGs (site):

brew install dieharder

A directory for your testing
Create a directory which you'll use for testing PRNGs. This is where we'll put scripts and data.

The minimist package
A very useful package for parsing arguments which I use for the script below. Go into the testing directory and install it with NPM:

npm install minimist

Communicating with Dieharder

Dieharder can take a file as an input, so we'll use a simple Node.js script for generating a dump of random numbers. See randout.js below for a template file that implements the simple Park-Miller PRNG.

Make the file executable (chmod +x randout.js) then execute it and put its output into a file:

./randout.js > numbers.txt

And now you can test it with Dieharder:

dieharder -g 202 -f numbers.txt -a

You can read more about the dieharder tool on the Dieharder homepage, but this will run all tests on that file. Note: It will take some time!

Testing more PRNGs

You can now add more constructors for other PRNGs in randout.js. They just need a random method which returns a 32-bit integer. To change which constructor is used, call the script with the --prng argument:

./randout.js --prng MersenneTwister > numbers.txt
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