[RESOLVED] Randomly Sorting an Array

Hi, I am trying to write a class that simulates a deck of cards and i am currently working on the shuffle method. I am using a char array to simulate the deck. I remember reading somewhere that there are already methods to randomly sort an array but i wanted to implement the shuffle with my own code. The char array i start with is in a ascending order so it looks like. [2,2,2,2 ... ... K,K,K,K,A,A,A,A]. I was wondering how this algorithm would work and whether others thought it was random enough.


For each index of the array
get a random number within the array bounds.
switch the current char with the char at the random index.


Would this be a good way to shuffle the array. It looks like I will be creating 52 random numbers in total and making 52 swaps total. It does not seem like alot of overhead. I have not tried to write the code yet i just wanted to get some opinions on the alg. and whether or not it would suit. I was also thinking I could run the algo twice on the array.

Gerald

Hey, i wrote the code and ran it. It seems to shuffle the deck pretty well. Ill post results. And i would still like to know whether this would be a good way to shuffle or if there is a more efficient way/ more random way.

Code:

---


2222
3333
4444
5555
6666
7777
8888              //Before
9999
0000
JJJJ
QQQQ
KKKK
AAAA
----------

QJ80
QK70
53K4
J56Q
6J54
8629
7968          //After
39KQ
AK27
2593
4008
43A2
7AAJ
----------

/*
 * This function Shuffles a Deck of cards.
 */
void shuffle()
{
    int temp=0;
    int random=0;

    // initialize a random seed.
    srand ( time(NULL) );

    for(int i=0;i<52;i++)
    {
        //Generate a random number for the swap.
        //  The random number refers to an index.
        random= rand() &#37; 51 ;

        //Swapping the chars at the index and the random index.
        temp=deck[i];
        deck[i]=deck[random];
        deck[random]=temp;
    }
}

---

Gerald

This is a 1d array. I just have it printing results with 4 columns and 13 rows.

I found another post about the same topic that covered most of my questions.