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Subject: Re: mt_srand with array seed?
From: fsb@thefsb.org (Tom Worster)

On 8/11/16 10:13 AM, Lauri Kenttä wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Any thoughts about supporting a longer seed array for mt_srand? Does
> anyone really need it? Should it be in mt_srand or mt_srand_array?
>
> See: https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=32145

The second question is controversial.

People have asserted that nobody does statistical work in PHP, or that 
if they do it's not a "legitimate" use of PHP. There were demands for 
evidence that anyone has ever legitimately needed to seed an RNG in PHP.

I disagree. #32145 in itself is sufficient for me.

For statistical work 2^32 starting positions is not enough. MT's period 
is Vast, like Dennett's Vast with a capital V. Nobody needs *that* much 
but if MT is what we've got then it seems reasonable to allow access to 
more of it.

mt_srand() will work. But what would be in the array? Integers from 
which the upper 32 bits, if they exist, are discarded?

Tom