Here the algorithm of the generator "Subset of Names" is described. In this random generator you can enter several names from which a subset will be chosen randomly. For example, you can draw the winner of a raffle or enter other things that you can not decide between.
Table of contents
What is randomness?
Randomness is an event whose state cannot be clearly predicted causally. This means that the result of a random generator may not be predictable or computable. This, however, contradicts the laws of each computer. In other words, a computer can not produce absolutely random numbers without additional peripherals. In this case we call it pseudo-random numbers. In general, you can philosophize about at which point you can actually speak about randomness in practise.
How are the names selected?
Theoretically, several different methods are used in this generator to generate pseudo-random values. For the actual answer, a PHP function for cryptographically secure pseudo random numbers is used.
Random generators for binary string
How these random generators work, is explained here in detail.
Random generator for name selection
The previous random number generators produce relatively good random numbers, which, however, can further be improved. The subset is therefore always generated on server-side with the PHP function random_int(), which generates cryptographically secure pseudo-random numbers:
// The array $names contains all names // Select all names for ($i = 1; $i <= $number_names; $i++) { $index = random_int(0, count($names) - 1); $random_names[] = $names[$index]; unset($names[$index]); // Delete entry $names = array_values($names); // Reset indexes }
