update CHANGES.html and RELEASE_NOTES for random variable merge
authorTom Henderson <tomh@tomh.org>
Tue, 10 Jul 2012 22:24:37 -0700
changeset 8878 a007dbfb3189
parent 8877 e322283a44dc
child 8879 7ea9d241f3d7
update CHANGES.html and RELEASE_NOTES for random variable merge
CHANGES.html
RELEASE_NOTES
--- a/CHANGES.html	Tue Jul 10 21:52:31 2012 -0700
+++ b/CHANGES.html	Tue Jul 10 22:24:37 2012 -0700
@@ -48,12 +48,24 @@
 
 <h2>New API:</h2>
 <ul>
-<li></li>
+<li>A RandomVariableStreamHelper has been introduced to assist with 
+using the Config subsystem path names to assign fixed stream numbers
+to RandomVariableStream objects.</li>
 </ul>
 
 <h2>Changes to existing API:</h2>
 <ul>
-<li></li>
+<li>Derived classes of RandomVariable (i.e. the random variable 
+implementations) have been ported to a new RandomVariableStream base class.
+<li>For a given distribution DistributionVariable (such as UniformVariable),
+the new class name is DistributionRandomVariable (such as 
+UniformRandomVariable). </li>
+<li>The new implementations are also derived from class ns3::Object and 
+are handled using the ns-3 smart pointer (Ptr) class.  </li>
+<li>The new variable classes also have a new attributed called "Stream"
+which allows them to be assigned to a fix stream index when assigned
+to the underlying pseudo-random stream of numbers.</li>
+</li>
 </ul>
 
 <h2>Changes to build system:</h2>
@@ -63,7 +75,11 @@
 
 <h2>Changed behavior:</h2>
 <ul>
-<li></li>
+<li>Programs using random variables or models that include random variables 
+may exhibit changed output for a given run number or seed, due to a possible 
+change in the order in which random variables are assigned to underlying 
+pseudo-random sequences.  Consult the manual for more information regarding 
+this.</li>
 </ul>
 
 <hr>
--- a/RELEASE_NOTES	Tue Jul 10 21:52:31 2012 -0700
+++ b/RELEASE_NOTES	Tue Jul 10 22:24:37 2012 -0700
@@ -21,9 +21,19 @@
 
 New user-visible features
 -------------------------
+- A new random variable base class called 'RandomVariableStream', has been
+introduced.  This base class derives from ns3::Object, unlike the current 
+'RandomVariable' class which is a special type of object in the ns-3 
+system to date.  By making this class derive from ns3::Object, it can be 
+handled with the Ptr class, can carry attributes, and can have its parameters
+and initial state saved in the config-store subsystem.  A new attribute
+called "Stream" has been introduced for this class, to allow users to
+better control the assignment of underlying pseudo-random sequences to
+the RandomVariableStream objects (bug 101).
 
 Bugs fixed
 ----------
+ - bug 101 - random variable initialization
 
 Known issues
 ------------