Ancient Web: Bob Jenkins Put Randomness and Scout Skits on One Page

Part of the Ancient Web Collection.

Bob Jenkins's homepage offers serious research on pseudorandom number generation, then—without much ceremony—invites visitors to browse Boy Scout skits. The combination is exactly what makes it an enduring personal-web document.

Explore Bob Jenkins's homepage.

Under 'Hashing' are algorithms for hash tables, perfect hashing, and the search for better mixing functions. Under 'Randomness' are explanations of ISAAC and other generators, experimental tests, and a challenge involving ISAAC's security. Nearby sit mathematics, orbital simulations, genealogy, short fiction, and household projects.

The page links a September 1997 Dr. Dobb's Journal article as well as papers whose underlying work began even earlier. Its ISAAC and RC4 discussion is credited to Robert J. Jenkins Jr., 1993–1996. It explains the construction of several pseudorandom generators, compares their performance with a then-described RC4 implementation, and includes mathematical reasoning about cycle lengths.

The old research stays visible next to new revisions

Jenkins does not present all algorithms as equally secure or appropriate for today's computers. His current homepage argues that hardware AES instructions have changed the performance landscape dramatically, and openly compares older general-purpose implementations with faster modern alternatives. Historical algorithm pages remain accessible even as the author's views and benchmarks evolve.

The hash-functions index preserves references, explanatory code, experiments, and older research topics. Elsewhere are an orbit simulator, a page on unusual orbital arrangements, tests for software concurrency, and the 'jenny' tool for generating pairwise test combinations.

That mixture creates an unusual reference archive. A university department might distribute the mathematics and software across separate project sites. A personal homepage can keep them together with family interviews, a homemade dollhouse, recipes, paper airplanes and a collection of comedy sketches.

The technical material requires appropriate context. A 1990s paper about a cryptographic pseudorandom generator is not a substitute for present-day security review or a recommendation to deploy old code. Jenkins himself distinguishes different purposes and limitations.

What survives is a visible intellectual biography: an engineer's investigations alongside the interests that never needed an academic abstract.

Browse the original directory and the 1993–96 ISAAC paper.

Part of the Ancient Web Collection.