Если вы действительно разбираетесь в скорости и хотите быстро генерировать случайные значения, алгоритм mcdowella Уокера, упомянутый в https://stackoverflow.com/a/3655773/1212517, является в значительной степени наилучшим способом (O (1) время для random (),и O (N) время для предварительной обработки ()).
Для тех, кто заинтересован, вот моя собственная реализация алгоритма на PHP:
/**
* Pre-process the samples (Walker's alias method).
* @param array key represents the sample, value is the weight
*/
protected function preprocess($weights){
$N = count($weights);
$sum = array_sum($weights);
$avg = $sum / (double)$N;
//divide the array of weights to values smaller and geq than sum/N
$smaller = array_filter($weights, function($itm) use ($avg){ return $avg > $itm;}); $sN = count($smaller);
$greater_eq = array_filter($weights, function($itm) use ($avg){ return $avg <= $itm;}); $gN = count($greater_eq);
$bin = array(); //bins
//we want to fill N bins
for($i = 0;$i<$N;$i++){
//At first, decide for a first value in this bin
//if there are small intervals left, we choose one
if($sN > 0){
$choice1 = each($smaller);
unset($smaller[$choice1['key']]);
$sN--;
} else{ //otherwise, we split a large interval
$choice1 = each($greater_eq);
unset($greater_eq[$choice1['key']]);
}
//splitting happens here - the unused part of interval is thrown back to the array
if($choice1['value'] >= $avg){
if($choice1['value'] - $avg >= $avg){
$greater_eq[$choice1['key']] = $choice1['value'] - $avg;
}else if($choice1['value'] - $avg > 0){
$smaller[$choice1['key']] = $choice1['value'] - $avg;
$sN++;
}
//this bin comprises of only one value
$bin[] = array(1=>$choice1['key'], 2=>null, 'p1'=>1, 'p2'=>0);
}else{
//make the second choice for the current bin
$choice2 = each($greater_eq);
unset($greater_eq[$choice2['key']]);
//splitting on the second interval
if($choice2['value'] - $avg + $choice1['value'] >= $avg){
$greater_eq[$choice2['key']] = $choice2['value'] - $avg + $choice1['value'];
}else{
$smaller[$choice2['key']] = $choice2['value'] - $avg + $choice1['value'];
$sN++;
}
//this bin comprises of two values
$choice2['value'] = $avg - $choice1['value'];
$bin[] = array(1=>$choice1['key'], 2=>$choice2['key'],
'p1'=>$choice1['value'] / $avg,
'p2'=>$choice2['value'] / $avg);
}
}
$this->bins = $bin;
}
/**
* Choose a random sample according to the weights.
*/
public function random(){
$bin = $this->bins[array_rand($this->bins)];
$randValue = (lcg_value() < $bin['p1'])?$bin[1]:$bin[2];
}