Simulating a 6-faced die in Ada-2005

Question

I have very definitively come across the 'simulating a 6-faced die' (which produces a random integer between 1 and 6, all outcomes are equally probable) in Java, Python, Ruby and Bash. However, I am yet to see a similar program in Ada. Has anyone come across one?

Answer 1

See Random Number Generation (LRM A.5.2) for packages to assist with doing this. Either Ada.Numerics.Float_Random for uniform random number generation (range 0.0 .. 1.0) which you can then scale on your own, or instantiate Ada.Numerics.Discrete_Random with a suitable (sub)type (works for d4, d10, d12, and d20s as well!).

Answer 2

You might enjoy this simulation of the children's card game of war, which uses an instance of Ada.Numerics.Discrete_Random.

subtype Card_Range is Positive range 1 .. 52;
package Any_Card is new Ada.Numerics.Discrete_Random(Card_Range);
G : Any_Card.Generator;
…
N : Card_Range := Any_Card.Random(G);

Answer 3

With Ada 95, a random number generator was defined as part of the standard library making it a required component of every Ada 95 compilation system.

Therefore, yes you can simulate a 6-faced die in Ada quite easily.

Answer 4

RossetaCode.org usually have these kind of typical programs. You can find a simple 6-faced dice implementation in Pig the dice game.

These are the relevant parts of that program for a dice implementation.

You define the wanted range in a type:

type Dice_Score is range 1 .. 6;

instantiate Ada.Numerics.Discrete_Random with your type:

with Ada.Numerics.Discrete_Random;

package RND is new Ada.Numerics.Discrete_Random(Dice_Score);

Use the instantiation to get a random value in the range:

Gen: RND.Generator; 

P.Recent_Roll := RND.Random(Gen);