NAME

Data::RandomPerson::Choice - Select an element from a list in proportion

VERSION

This document refers to version 0.3 of Data::RandomPerson::Choice, released May 22nd, 2005

SYNOPSIS

use Data::RandomPerson::Choice;

my $c = Data::RandomPerson::Choice->new();

$c->add( 'this' );
$c->add( 'that', 11 );

# The list now contains 12 elements, 1 'this' and 11 'that'. A random
# element will be selected with the following probablilty:
#
# this =  1/12 = 0.083
# that = 11/12 = 0.917

print $c->pick();

DESCRIPTION

Overview

A way of simply defining the probablity of a selection of values based on the ratio of the elements this add( 'this' ) adds one element to the list, the count argument of add defaults to 1. add( 'that', 11 ) adds another 11 elements to the list giving a total of 12. The chance of picking 'this' is 1 in 12 and the change for 'that' is 11 in 12.

You can add as many values as you like to the list.

Constructors and initialization

Data::RandomPerson::Choice->new( )

Returns a Data::RandomPerson::Choice object.

Class and object methods

add( VALUE [, COUNT] )

Adds VALUE to the list COUNT times, if COUNT is omitted it will default to 1.

add_list( LIST )

Adds a LIST of items to the data

size( )

Returns the size of the list so far

pick()

Returns an element from the list.

ENVIRONMENT

Perl 5

DIAGNOSTICS

No data has been added to the list ...

This error will occur if you have called pick() before add() has been called.

BUGS

None so far

FILES

None

SEE ALSO

None

AUTHOR

Peter Hickman (peterhi@ntlworld.com)

COPYRIGHT

Copyright (c) 2005, Peter Hickman. All rights reserved. This module is free software. It may be used, redistributed and/or modified under the same terms as Perl itself.