Boost C++ Libraries

Random numbers are useful in a variety of applications. The Boost Random Number Library (Boost.Random for short) provides a variety of generators and distributions to produce random numbers having useful properties, such as uniform distribution.

You should read the concepts documentation for an introduction and the definition of the basic concepts. For a quick start, it may be sufficient to have a look at random_demo.cpp.

For a very quick start, here's an example:

boost::mt19937 rng;                 // produces randomness out of thin air
                                    // see pseudo-random number generators
boost::uniform_int<> six(1,6);      // distribution that maps to 1..6
                                    // see random number distributions
boost::variate_generator<boost::mt19937&, boost::uniform_int<> >
         die(rng, six);             // glues randomness with mapping
int x = die();                      // simulate rolling a die