Random #s

[Dave Cragg]

On 27 Jan 2005, at 11:25, Mark Smith wrote:

> How about something like:
>
> repeat until the number of items in tRnum = 5
> put random(10) into tRand
> if tRand is not among the items of tRnum then put tRand & comma after 
> tRnum
> end repeat
>

Although I'm sure this is fine in practice, this kind of solution 
always makes me a little nervous. In theory, it could take for ever to 
find a unique set of numbers. While my testing shows it never takes 
longer than a millisecond, Murphy's law says that the first time you 
put it into an application, it will take three days. :)

For the nervous ninnies like myself, this function should be more 
consistent:

function any5from10
   put "1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10" into tList
   sort items of tList by random(1000)
   return item 1 to 5 of tList
end any5from10

Cheers
Dave