As has been pointed out many times, the suggestion to write code like this is problematic:
Public Function GetRandom(ByVal Min As Integer, ByVal Max As Integer) As Integer
Dim Generator As System.Random = New System.Random()
Return Generator.Next(Min, Max)
End Function
The reason is that the constructor for the Random class provides a default seed based on the system’s clock. On most systems, this has limited granularity — somewhere in the vicinity of 20 ms. So if you write the following code, you’re going to get the same number a bunch of times in a row:
Dim randoms(1000) As Integer
For i As Integer = 0 to randoms.Length - 1
randoms(i) = GetRandom(1, 100)
Next
The following code addresses this issue:
Public Function GetRandom(ByVal Min As Integer, ByVal Max As Integer) As Integer
' by making Generator static, we preserve the same instance '
' (i.e., do not create new instances with the same seed over and over) '
' between calls '
Static Generator As System.Random = New System.Random()
Return Generator.Next(Min, Max)
End Function
I threw together a simple program using both methods to generate 25 random integers between 1 and 100. Here’s the output:
Non-static: 70 Static: 70
Non-static: 70 Static: 46
Non-static: 70 Static: 58
Non-static: 70 Static: 19
Non-static: 70 Static: 79
Non-static: 70 Static: 24
Non-static: 70 Static: 14
Non-static: 70 Static: 46
Non-static: 70 Static: 82
Non-static: 70 Static: 31
Non-static: 70 Static: 25
Non-static: 70 Static: 8
Non-static: 70 Static: 76
Non-static: 70 Static: 74
Non-static: 70 Static: 84
Non-static: 70 Static: 39
Non-static: 70 Static: 30
Non-static: 70 Static: 55
Non-static: 70 Static: 49
Non-static: 70 Static: 21
Non-static: 70 Static: 99
Non-static: 70 Static: 15
Non-static: 70 Static: 83
Non-static: 70 Static: 26
Non-static: 70 Static: 16
Non-static: 70 Static: 75