Amit Bhatia wrote:

Thanks Jim, I have another doubt which is due to my lack of any previous experience with things like templates(Well I am seeing the kind of programming used in BOOST for the first time :( ). I was looking at the random number library, and it mentions IntType a number of times. I can't figure out where to look for it? So is it a generic thing or is it part of some other BOOST library. It's right under your nose, as they say ;=)

The IntType is a parameter to the template, so it's whatever you tell the compiler you want it to be. Taking a snip at (ahem) random from one of the files: template class linear_congruential { public: typedef IntType result_type; static const IntType multiplier = a; static const IntType increment = c; static const IntType modulus = m; static const bool has_fixed_range = true; static const result_type min_value; static const result_type max_value; explicit linear_congruential_fixed(IntType x0 = 1); // compiler-generated copy constructor and assignment operator are fine void seed(IntType x0); IntType operator()(); }; At this point, we don't know exactly what an "IntType" is. However, on the next lines: typedef random::linear_congruential minstd_rand0; typedef random::linear_congruential minstd_rand; These typedefs provide typedefs that fix IntType as a long, with the various parameters converted to long. More detailed explanation about templates is beyond the scope of this list - it's really quite a basic topic. I'd suggest picking up a good C++ tutorial book. Koenig and Moo's "Accelerated C++" comes highly recommended (I haven't read it myself, but I have yet to hear a negative review of it). -- Jim