From: "David A. Black" <dblack@...>
Date: 2008-07-04T01:08:59+09:00
Subject: Re: pseudo-randomize an array in a consistent order

Hi --

On Fri, 4 Jul 2008, Max Williams wrote:

> Thanks guys
>
> This is what i did in the meantime since asking (I monkey-patched
> Array):
>
> class Array
>
>  def randomize(seed=nil)
>   srand(seed) if seed
>   self.sort{|a,b| rand <=> rand }
>  end
>
>  def randomize!(seed=nil)
>   srand(seed) if seed
>   self.sort!{|a,b| rand <=> rand }
>  end
>
> end
>
> I'm worried though that using sort like this is a bit inefficient.  The
> array being sorted is around 3000 numbers (and not likely to exceed
> 5000) so maybe that's not too much of an issue.  Is there a more
> efficient way you can think of?

I absolutely wouldn't worry about it, unless you actually notice any
slowness.


David

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