Expert: David Spector - 8/27/2004

Question
I'm using a free version of microsoft visual c++ and whenever I use the rand() function under the <cstdlib> the random number is always 41. Why? How do I fix that?

Answer
Alex Carruthers , Thank you for your question.

1. There is no free version of Visual C++. Microsoft charges money for this product, even for the Academic (Student) Edition.

2. You should not use <cstdlib>. This file simply Includes <stdlib>, in which "rand" is declared.

3. "rand" should not always return  41. Perhaps you forgot to call the "srand" function first. From the MSDN Library:

"_Return Value_

rand returns a pseudorandom number, as described above. There is no error return.

_Remarks_

The rand function returns a pseudorandom integer in the range 0 to RAND_MAX. Use the srand function to seed the pseudorandom-number generator before calling rand."

I hope this information helps.

David Spector