[mlpack-svn] [MLPACK] #182: Random number generators always use the same seed

[MLPACK Trac]

#182: Random number generators always use the same seed
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  Reporter:  march        |        Owner:     
      Type:  enhancement  |       Status:  new
  Priority:  minor        |    Milestone:     
 Component:  mlpack       |   Resolution:     
  Keywords:               |     Blocking:     
Blocked By:               |  
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Comment (by nslagle):

 I guess I'm not familiar with how the --help and --info options function;
 if the function the way I think they do, having them available from CLI's
 header is probably okay as a free-floating feature.  I would draw the line
 there, as --help and --info don't take arguments (at least I think they
 don't...)

 Modifying the seed value of a pseudo random number generator shouldn't be
 a command line argument that anyone from anywhere clinging to the same
 process can apply, much to the chagrin of the process owner; while
 tempting, following the path of implementing a feature which seems to
 offer a shortcut like this led us, inexorably, to the untenable world of
 the universal CLI, or rather, CLI for all, and all for CLI.

 We should access features of a class/interface/API in more conventional
 ways.  So, if you choose to use a random number generator, and you want to
 change the seed value, do so through the appropriate interface.  If the
 command line argument seems essential to ease the user's burden in a
 particular main file case, let the author of that main file create a CLI
 hook for it.

 So there's my response, handmade in exhaustion...

-- 
Ticket URL: <https://trac.research.cc.gatech.edu/fastlab/ticket/182#comment:5>
MLPACK <www.fast-lab.org>
MLPACK is an intuitive, fast, and scalable C++ machine learning library developed by the FASTLAB at Georgia Tech under Dr. Alex Gray.