/xkcd_random_test

Test to determine bias in reading xkcd with a uniform random number generator.

Primary LanguagePythonThe UnlicenseUnlicense

Why?

To answer the question, as an avid xkcd reader, that uniformly selecting a random comic will be unfair to the newer comics.

Goal

This was done with intent to fix/patch the Easy_xkcd reader.

Ideal solution is to have an equation/function that takes one parameter - where the bias starts (user editable during run time) and fixes the distribution to be uniform across all the existing comics. In this code, 1700 is where I set it at.

Graph

graph

Notes

  • Approximately #1700 is when I started reading xkcd thoroughly.
  • READ_COMICS at 400 per week is a bit of an exaggeration; It's just a guess based on my xkcd reading habits
  • This is also the first time I've used the xkcd style of graphs in matplotlib
  • TAIL_ITERS is just to show that the distribution tends to uniform, if the comics stop appearing. Set to 1, it has no effect. Increase it to 1000, or more to see the graph flattening. (Caution: takes a long time)
  • Only requirement is matplotlib, pylint is optional
  • Checked with shuffle, since the Easy_xkcd app uses shuffle. The results are similar.