This command returns a random number that is uniformily distributed between 0 and maximum. The argument maximum defaults to 10000 but it can be set to floating point numbers such as 1.0.
The command sets and uses the ::dmh namespace variable random_seed. If you wish, you may initialize this value so that the generated sequence is not the same from program run to program run.
A high quality, linear congruential algorithm is used, based on Tom Swan's article in the January 1994 issue of Dr. Dobb's Journal.