Random numbers

[Monika]

> So why don't we have these for computers? Do they interfere with other
> stuff? Does the rest of the computer interfere with them? Are they too slow
> or not really random with today's computing capabilities and speeds?


They don't interfere with other stuff as far as I know. You could use the
random generated noise from the computer itself and it would be dirt
cheap. That would also produce truely random sequences.

As it was mentioned, for most applications  psudo-random numbers are enough
(i.e. for games). But as cryptographic protocols are becoming more common,
there will soon be a need for real random numbers that can be used as session
keys or just random numbers for authentication, encryption and secret exchange
protocols.

Monika


> 
> ciao,
> 
> der.hans
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