randomness
4 definitions found
randomness - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :
randomness
n 1: (thermodynamics) a thermodynamic quantity representing the
amount of energy in a system that is no longer available
for doing mechanical work; "entropy increases as matter and
energy in the universe degrade to an ultimate state of
inert uniformity" [syn: randomness, entropy, S]
2: the quality of lacking any predictable order or plan [syn:
randomness, haphazardness, stochasticity, noise]
randomness - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :
randomness
1. An inexplicable misfeature; gratuitous inelegance.
2. A hack or crock that depends on a complex combination
of coincidences (or, possibly, the combination upon which the
crock depends for its accidental failure to malfunction).
"This hack can output characters 40--57 by putting the
character in the four bit accumulator field of an XCT and then
extracting six bits - the low 2 bits of the XCT opcode are
the right thing." "What randomness!"
3. Of people, synonymous with "flakiness". The connotation is
that the person so described is behaving weirdly,
incompetently, or inappropriately for reasons which are (a)
too tiresome to bother inquiring into, (b) are probably as
inscrutable as quantum phenomena anyway, and (c) are likely to
pass with time. "Maybe he has a real complaint, or maybe it's
just randomness. See if he calls back."
[Jargon File]
randomness - Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003) :
randomness
n.
1. An inexplicable misfeature; gratuitous inelegance.
2. A hack or crock that depends on a complex combination of
coincidences (or, possibly, the combination upon which the crock
depends for its accidental failure to malfunction). "This hack can
output characters 40--57 by putting the character in the four-bit
accumulator field of an XCT and then extracting six bits -- the low 2
bits of the XCT opcode are the right thing." "What randomness!"
3. Of people, synonymous with flakiness. The connotation is that the
person so described is behaving weirdly, incompetently, or
inappropriately for reasons which are (a) too tiresome to bother
inquiring into, (b) are probably as inscrutable as quantum phenomena
anyway, and (c) are likely to pass with time. "Maybe he has a real
complaint, or maybe it's just randomness. See if he calls back."
Despite the negative connotations of most jargon uses of this term
have, it is worth noting that randomness can actually be a valuable
resource, very useful for applications in cryptography and elsewhere.
Computers are so thoroughly deterministic that they have a hard time
generating high-quality randomness, so hackers have sometimes felt
the
need to built special-purpose contraptions for this purpose alone.
One
well-known website offers random bits generated by radioactive decay.
Another derives random bits from images of Lava Lite lamps. (Hackers
invariably find the latter hilarious. If you have to ask why, you'll
never get it.)
randomness - Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 :
72 Moby Thesaurus words for "randomness":
aimlessness, capriciousness, causelessness, chance, chanciness,
changeableness, derangement, designlessness, disarrangement,
disarray, disarticulation, discomfiture, discomposure,
disconcertedness, disharmony, dishevelment, disintegration,
disjunction, disorder, disorderliness, disorganization,
disproportion, disruption, disturbance, dysteleology, entropy,
erraticism, erraticness, fickleness, haphazardness, hesitancy,
hesitation, incalculability, incertitude, incoherence, indecision,
indecisiveness, indemonstrability, indeterminacy, indetermination,
indeterminism, indiscriminateness, inharmonious harmony,
irregularity, irresolution, luck, most admired disorder,
nonsymmetry, nonuniformity, perturbation, promiscuity,
promiscuousness, purposelessness, suspense, suspensefulness,
turbulence, unaccountability, uncertainness, uncertainty,
uncertainty principle, undecidedness, undeterminedness,
unforeseeableness, unpredictability, unprovability, unsureness,
unsymmetry, ununiformity, unverifiability, upset, vacillation,
whimsicality
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