NAME
    seed - return a value that may be used to seed a pseudo-random generator

SYNOPSIS
    seed()

TYPES
    return	integer

DESCRIPTION
    Generate a pseudo-random seed based on a collection of system and process
    information.  The seed() builtin function returns a value:

		0 <= seed < 2^64

    IMPORTANT WARNING:

	It should be pointed out that the information collected by seed
	is almost certainly non-chaotic.  This function is likely not
	suitable for applications (such as cryptographic applications)
	where the unpredictability of seeds is critical.  For such critical
	applications, lavarand should be used.	See the URL:

		http://lavarand.sgi.com/index.html

	for information about seeding a pseudo-random number generator
	(such as rand() or random()) with the cryptographic hash of the
	digitization of chaotic system.

    Given the above warning, this builtin function produces a seed that is
    suitable for most applications that desire a different pseudo-random
    sequence each time they are run.

    The return value of this builtin function should NOT be considered
    a random or pseudo-random value.  The return value should be used
    as an argument to a seed function such as srand() or srandom().

EXAMPLE
    > print srand(seed())
    RAND state

    > print srandom(seed())
    RAND state

LIMITS
    none

LIBRARY
    NUMBER *pseudo_seed(void)

SEE ALSO
    seed, srand, randbit, isrand, rand, random, srandom, israndom