Random : adj
1: lacking any definite plan or order or purpose; governed by
or depending on chance; "a random choice"; "bombs fell
at random"; "random movements" [ant: nonrandom]
2: taken haphazardly; "a random choice"
Based on WordNet 2.0
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Random : \Ran"dom\, a.
Going at random or by chance; done or made at hazard, or
without settled direction, aim, or purpose; hazarded without
previous calculation; left to chance; haphazard; as, a random
guess.
Some random truths he can impart. --Wordsworth.
So sharp a spur to the lazy, and so strong a bridle to
the random. --H. Spencer.
Random courses (Masonry), courses of unequal thickness.
Random shot, a shot not directed or aimed toward any
particular object, or a shot with the muzzle of the gun
much elevated.
Random work (Masonry), stonework consisting of stones of
unequal sizes fitted together, but not in courses nor
always with flat beds.
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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Random : \Ran"dom\, n. [OE. randon, OF. randon force, violence,
rapidity, a randon, de randon, violently, suddenly, rapidly,
prob. of German origin; cf. G. rand edge, border, OHG. rant
shield, edge of a shield, akin to E. rand, n. See Rand, n.]
1. Force; violence. [Obs.]
For courageously the two kings newly fought with
great random and force. --E. Hall.
2. A roving motion; course without definite direction; want
of direction, rule, or method; hazard; chance; -- commonly
used in the phrase at random, that is, without a settled
point of direction; at hazard.
Counsels, when they fly At random, sometimes hit
most happily. --Herrick.
O, many a shaft, at random sent, Finds mark the
archer little meant ! --Sir W.
Scott.
3. Distance to which a missile is cast; range; reach; as, the
random of a rifle ball. --Sir K. Digby.
4. (Mining) The direction of a rake-vein. --Raymond.
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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Random :
1. Unpredictable (closest to mathematical definition); weird.
"The system's been behaving pretty randomly."
2. Assorted; undistinguished. "Who was at the conference?"
"Just a bunch of random business types."
3. (pejorative) Frivolous; unproductive; undirected. "He's
just a random loser."
4. Incoherent or inelegant; poorly chosen; not well organised.
"The program has a random set of misfeatures." "That's a
random name for that function." "Well, all the names were
chosen pretty randomly."
5. In no particular order, though deterministic. "The I/O
channels are in a pool, and when a file is opened one is
chosen randomly."
6. Arbitrary. "It generates a random name for the scratch
file."
7. Gratuitously wrong, i.e. poorly done and for no good
apparent reason. For example, a program that handles file
name defaulting in a particularly useless way, or an assembler
routine that could easily have been coded using only three
registers, but redundantly uses seven for values with
non-overlapping lifetimes, so that no one else can invoke it
without first saving four extra registers. What randomness!
8. A random hacker; used particularly of high-school students
who soak up computer time and generally get in the way.
9. Anyone who is not a hacker (or, sometimes, anyone not
known to the hacker speaking). "I went to the talk, but the
audience was full of randoms asking bogus questions".
10. (occasional MIT usage) One who lives at Random Hall. See
also J. Random, some random X.
[{Jargon File]
(1995-12-05)
Based on the Online Dictionary of Computing [Computer_Dictionary]:
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Random : adj. 1. Unpredictable (closest to mathematical definition);
weird. "The system's been behaving pretty randomly." 2. Assorted;
undistinguished. "Who was at the conference?" "Just a bunch of random
business types." 3. (pejorative) Frivolous; unproductive; undirected.
"He's just a random loser." 4. Incoherent or inelegant; poorly chosen;
not well organized. "The program has a random set of misfeatures."
"That's a random name for that function." "Well, all the names were
chosen pretty randomly." 5. In no particular order, though
deterministic. "The I/O channels are in a pool, and when a file is
opened one is chosen randomly." 6. Arbitrary. "It generates a random
name for the scratch file." 7. Gratuitously wrong, i.e., poorly done and
for no good apparent reason. For example, a program that handles file
name defaulting in a particularly useless way, or an assembler routine
that could easily have been coded using only three registers, but
redundantly uses seven for values with non-overlapping lifetimes, so
that no one else can invoke it without first saving four extra
registers. What randomness! 8. n. A random hacker; used particularly
of high-school students who soak up computer time and generally get in
the way. 9. n. Anyone who is not a hacker (or, sometimes, anyone not
known to the hacker speaking); the noun form of sense 2. "I went to the
talk, but the audience was full of randoms asking bogus questions". 10.
n. (occasional MIT usage) One who lives at Random Hall. See also J.
Random, some random X. 11. [UK] Conversationally, a non sequitur or
something similarly out-of-the-blue. As in: "Stop being so random!" This
sense equates to `hatstand', taken from the Viz comic character "Roger
Irrelevant - He's completely Hatstand."
Based on Jargon File : [Hackers_Dictionary]:
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Random : Random: The process by which an outcome is determined solely by chance, for example, by a coin flip.
A randomized controlled trial is a clinical trial that involves at least one test treatment and one control treatment and in which the treatments to be administered are selected by a random process,
such as the use of a random-numbers table.
The opposite of random is nonrandom.
Based on Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) [Hackers_Dictionary]:
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