Randomness

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An essential element of 10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1));: GOTO 10 is randomness; the program could not produce its mesmerizing visual effect without it. Randomness is built into the Commodore 64's BASIC programming language via the RND function. The RND function is not unique to the Commodore 64; it was present in the original Dartmouth BASIC, and similar random functions can be traced back past the 1950s. In the case of the Commodore 64, random numbers are not only supplied within BASIC. In the computer's ROM is its operating system, the intentionally misspelled KERNAL, which can be poked and prodded into generating random numbers and which is ultimately invoked by the BASIC RND function. The C64's sound chip, the SID, can also be harnessed to generate random values. It almost seems to be randomness all the way down.

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This chapter explores the nature of randomness, both within and outside of computing. The role of randomness in games, literature, and the arts is considered, as well as the origins of random number generation in modern mathematics, engineering, and computer science. The nature of "pseudo-randomness" is described -- an approximation of randomness, a production of random-like values which sounds as if it were a sad failed attempt at randomness, but which is actually useful in many cases. Through a nuanced discussion of randomness, the chapter argues that the maze pattern which 10 PRINT produces is entwined with a complex history of aesthetic and utilitarian coin flips and random processes.

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This chapter explores the nature of randomness, both within and outside of computing. The role of randomness in games, literature, and the arts is considered, as well as the origins of random number generation in modern mathematics, engineering, and computer science. The nature of "pseudo-randomness" is described -- an approximation of randomness, a production of random-like values which sounds as if it were a sad, failed attempt at randomness, but which is actually useful in many cases. Through a nuanced discussion of randomness, the chapter argues that the maze pattern that 10 PRINT produces is entwined with a complex history of aesthetic and utilitarian coin flips and random processes.

Since a random occurrence is hap, the root of happy, it might seem that "random" would have a happy etymology. But this is not so. In centuries past, before the philosophers and mathematicians in the Age of Enlightenment sought to rationalize chance, randomness was a nightmare. Likely ancestors of the word "random" are found in Anglo-Norman, Old French, and Middle French and include ''randoun, raundun, raundoun, randon, randun,'' and ''rendon'' -- words signifying speed, impulsiveness, and violence. These early forms are found beginning around the 12th century and probably derive from ''randir,'' to run fast or gallop (''OED Online''). Bumper stickers implore drivers to "practice random acts of kindness," but only because people in our culture fear random acts of violence so much that this other phrase has become ingrained and can be punned upon -- and at a deeper level, perhaps, because the speed and violence of other vehicles are to be feared. While today it might be harmless to encounter "a random" sitting in the computer lab exploring a system at random, a "random encounter" centuries ago was more likely to resemble a random encounter in ''Dungeons & Dragons'': a figure hurtling on horseback through a village, delivering death and destruction.

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 An essential element of 10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1));: GOTO 10 is randomness; the program could not produce its mesmerizing visual effect without it. Randomness is built into the Commodore 64's BASIC programming language via the RND function. The RND function is not unique to the Commodore 64; it was present in the original Dartmouth BASIC, and similar random functions can be traced back past the 1950s. In the case of the Commodore 64, random numbers are not only supplied within BASIC. In the computer's ROM is its operating system, the intentionally misspelled KERNAL, which can be poked and prodded into generating random numbers and which is ultimately invoked by the BASIC RND function. The C64's sound chip, the SID, can also be harnessed to generate random values. It almost seems to be randomness all the way down.
-This chapter explores the nature of randomness, both within and outside of computing. The role of randomness in games, literature, and the arts is considered, as well as the origins of random number generation in modern mathematics, engineering, and computer science. The nature of "pseudo-randomness" is described -- an approximation of randomness, a production of random-like values which sounds as if it were a sad failed attempt at randomness, but which is actually useful in many cases. Through a nuanced discussion of randomness, the chapter argues that the maze pattern which 10 PRINT produces is entwined with a complex history of aesthetic and utilitarian coin flips and random processes.
+This chapter explores the nature of randomness, both within and outside of computing. The role of randomness in games, literature, and the arts is considered, as well as the origins of random number generation in modern mathematics, engineering, and computer science. The nature of "pseudo-randomness" is described -- an approximation of randomness, a production of random-like values which sounds as if it were a sad, failed attempt at randomness, but which is actually useful in many cases. Through a nuanced discussion of randomness, the chapter argues that the maze pattern that 10 PRINT produces is entwined with a complex history of aesthetic and utilitarian coin flips and random processes.
 Since a random occurrence is hap, the root of happy, it might seem that "random" would have a happy etymology. But this is not so. In centuries past, before the philosophers and mathematicians in the Age of Enlightenment sought to rationalize chance, randomness was a nightmare. Likely ancestors of the word "random" are found in Anglo-Norman, Old French, and Middle French and include ''randoun, raundun, raundoun, randon, randun,'' and ''rendon'' -- words signifying speed, impulsiveness, and violence. These early forms are found beginning around the 12th century and probably derive from ''randir,'' to run fast or gallop (''OED Online''). Bumper stickers implore drivers to "practice random acts of kindness," but only because people in our culture fear random acts of violence so much that this other phrase has become ingrained and can be punned upon -- and at a deeper level, perhaps, because the speed and violence of other vehicles are to be feared. While today it might be harmless to encounter "a random" sitting in the computer lab exploring a system at random, a "random encounter" centuries ago was more likely to resemble a random encounter in ''Dungeons & Dragons'': a figure hurtling on horseback through a village, delivering death and destruction.