randomly order a list

[Dar Scott]

Here are some timings of random functions going in another direction.

Results for an old mac mini:
Works better on OS X.
Time for a 1000 X loop divided by 1000.
<nothing>134 ns
get empty 227 ns
get alphabet 288 ns
get random(9999999) 327 ns
get md5Digest(alphabet) 890 ns
get md5Digest(startLongSeconds & alphabet) 1837 ns
get md5Random() 2134 ns


on mouseUp
   set the numberFormat to 0.
   put "Works better on OS X." & lf into field 1
   put "Time for a 1000 X loop divided by 1000." & lf after field 1 
   put "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz" into alphabet
   
   
   put the long seconds into t1
   repeat 1000 times
   end repeat
   put the long seconds into t2
   put "<nothing>" & (t2-t1)*1000000 & " ns" & lf after field 1
   
   put the long seconds into t1
   repeat 1000 times
      get empty
   end repeat
   put the long seconds into t2
   put "get empty " & (t2-t1)*1000000 & " ns" & lf after field 1
   
   put the long seconds into t1
   repeat 1000 times
      get alphabet
   end repeat
   put the long seconds into t2
   put "get alphabet " & (t2-t1)*1000000 & " ns" & lf after field 1
   
   put the long seconds into t1
   repeat 1000 times
      get random(9999999)
   end repeat
   put the long seconds into t2
   put "get random(9999999) " & (t2-t1)*1000000 & " ns" & lf after field 1
   
   put the long seconds into t1
   repeat 1000 times
      get md5Digest(alphabet)
   end repeat
   put the long seconds into t2
   put "get md5Digest(alphabet) " & (t2-t1)*1000000 & " ns" & lf after field 1
   
   put the long seconds into startLongSeconds
   put the long seconds into t1
   repeat 1000 times
      get md5Digest( startLongSeconds & alphabet)
   end repeat
   put the long seconds into t2
   put "get md5Digest(startLongSeconds & alphabet) " & (t2-t1)*1000000 & " ns" & lf after field 1
   
   put the long seconds into t1
   repeat 1000 times
      get md5Random()
   end repeat
   put the long seconds into t2 
   put "get md5Random() " & (t2-t1)*1000000 & " ns" & lf after field 1
end mouseUp

local randomState = true

private function md5Random
   if randomState then put the long seconds into randomState
   put md5Digest(randomState) into randomState
   return randomState
end md5Random