Random Constructor

The distribution of the generated numbers is uniform; each number is equally likely to be returned.

The default seed value is derived from the system clock and has finite resolution. As a result, different Random objects that are created in close succession by a call to the default constructor will have identical default seed values and, therefore, will produce identical sets of random numbers. This problem can be avoided by using a single Random object to generate all random numbers. You can also work around it by modifying the seed value returned by the system clock and then explicitly providing this new seed value to the Random(Int32) constructor. For more information, see the Random(Int32) constructor.

The following example uses the default constructor to instantiate three Random objects and displays a sequence of five random integers for each. Because the first two Random objects are created in close succession, they are instantiated using identical seed values based on the system clock and, therefore, they produce an identical sequence of random numbers. On the other hand, the default constructor of the third Random object is called after a two-second delay caused by calling the Thread.Sleep method. Because this produces a different seed value for the third Random object, it produces a different sequence of random numbers.

using System;
using System.Threading;

public class RandomNumbers
{
   public static void Main()
   {
      Random rand1 = new Random();
      Random rand2 = new Random();
      Thread.Sleep(2000);
      Random rand3 = new Random();
      ShowRandomNumbers(rand1);
      ShowRandomNumbers(rand2);
      ShowRandomNumbers(rand3);
   }

   private static void ShowRandomNumbers(Random rand)
   {
      Console.WriteLine();
      byte[] values = new byte[5];
      rand.NextBytes(values);
      foreach (byte value in values)
         Console.Write("{0, 5}", value);
      Console.WriteLine();   
   }
}
// The example displays the following output to the console:
//       28   35  133  224   58
//    
//       28   35  133  224   58
//    
//       32  222   43  251   49

.NET Framework

.NET Framework Client Profile

Portable Class Library

Windows 7, Windows Vista SP1 or later, Windows XP SP3, Windows XP SP2 x64 Edition, Windows Server 2008 (Server Core not supported), Windows Server 2008 R2 (Server Core supported with SP1 or later), Windows Server 2003 SP2

Reference