[dayglored]

> Probably was a math major instead of a computer engineer who actually understands how registers work and how integer arithmetic works in a computer.

Nope, it was dumber than that:

A programmer, who didn't understand the function of the randomizing variables in the key generator, removed all but one (the process ID, 0-32767). He eliminated random memory contents, mouse movements, keyboard input, everything but process ID.

Why? Because a "bug-catching" program told him that memory whould be initialized, not left "random", etc. Rather than strive to figure out why the code would have contained such things, he merely commented them out to quiet the bug-catcher software.

This was unintentional, but the fallout is horrific.

[dayglored]

whould => should

[sionnsar]

Why? Because a "bug-catching" program told him that memory whould be initialized, not left "random", etc. Rather than strive to figure out why the code would have contained such things, he merely commented them out to quiet the bug-catcher software.

Sounds like the original author didn't document his code well enough.

[Da Coyote]

Thanks for the explanation. Some folks do not fully understand the depths one has to go go even approximate randomness. Reminds me of some of the CS students I tried to teach - they thought “it’s already been done, so why learn the basics?”

[Petronski]

Instead of 128 bits there are only 15?

Ouch.