I recently discovered a very cool random number generator site appropriately called Random.org. After poking around a bit at the various generators available on the site, I discovered they also have a simple “http service” and sample client apps which use it.
As a quick exercise, I made custom data tables to access these random number services via YQL, Yahoo’s “select * from internet” service. To use these services in YQL, you’ll need to include the custom tables I created, then “select” some random numbers.
For example, to request a few random numbers (try it in YQL Console):
use "http://scooterlabs.com/yql/random.integers.xml"; select * from random.integers where num="10" and min="1" and max="1000";
To request a random sequence, where every number in the range is used once (try it in YQL Console):
use "http://scooterlabs.com/yql/random.sequences.xml"; select * from random.sequences where min="10" and max="19";
To generate some random strings (try it in YQL Console):
use "http://scooterlabs.com/yql/random.strings.xml"; select * from random.strings where num="10" and len="20";
For a full description of each service, and more optional parameters, refer to the Random.org HTTP interface description.
Update 2010-02-25: I heard back from the owner of the Random.org site who said he has been blocking all Yahoo! Pipes traffic. So, this YQL query may stop working at some point.