xkcd-random

Drop in replacement for random module that forces the core random number function to return 4, 0.4, 4/6. The specification is a bit ambiguous.

Uses the xkcd-221 algorithm.

(The name xkcd-random is too close to some pre-existing package, so it is now xkcd-random-four)

Installation

pip install xkcd-random

Usage

import xkcd_random as random

print(random.randint(0, 10))

Caveats

Some functions return something other than 4/6 or 4 because the random.random() function's results are manipulated before being returned to the user.

APIs might return 4 or 4/6, I don't know I haven't really tested it that well. You guys sure are picky about what random numbers you want. You know, here use this

import random

random.randint = lambda x: int(input("role a die"))

Implementation

SimpleOverrideXKCDRandom overrides 4 methods of Random() like the docstring suggests.

from random import Random


class SimpleOverrideXKCDRandom(Random):
    def random(self) -> float: return float(4 / 6)

    def getrandbits(self, k: int) -> int: return 4

    def seed(self, *_): ...

    def setstate(self, _): return ()

    def getstate(self): ...

xkcd_random is a fork of python 3.13. You can actually use this sensibly, with "system" (real randomness) or "xkcd" (it is 4.)

import xkcd_random

random = xkcd_random.Random(core=xkcd_random.SystemCore())

or

import os

os.environ["RANDOM_BACKEND"] = "system"
import xkcd_random as random

License

This code is copied directly from the python 3.11 so the license is the same as CPython's. Anything not covered by the cpython license is covered by MIT.

Prior Art and Similar Libraries

This list has an emphasis on "drop in replacements"

• RandomSources
• nonpseudorandom
• Pyewacket
• quantum-random
• pycrypto

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