Fast counter-based PRNG using multiple rounds of squaring, modernizing von Neumann’s middle-square method. Trivially parallelizable with competitive performance, passing BigCrush and PractRand statistical tests.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Category | Random Number Generators |
| Sub-category | Counter-Based PRNG |
| Security status | 🎓 Educational Only |
| Complexity | Intermediate |
| Inventor | Bernard Widynski |
| Year | 2020 |
| Origin | Not specified |
| Source | algorithms/random/squares.js |
| Parameter | Supported values |
|---|---|
| Key sizes | 8 bytes (64 bits) |
| Flag | Value |
|---|---|
IsDeterministic |
Yes |
IsCryptographicallySecure |
No |
IsCounterBased |
Yes |
Status: 🎓 Educational Only
No vulnerabilities are recorded for this implementation.
6 vectors ship with this algorithm and run in the test suite. Byte values are hexadecimal.
Vector 1 — Squares 3-round: counter=0, key=0xea3742c76bf95d47 - FlorisSteenkamp reference
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
key |
475df96bc74237ea |
outputSize |
4 |
input |
0000000000000000 |
expected |
63b29228 |
Vector 2 — Squares 3-round: counter=1, key=0xea3742c76bf95d47
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
key |
475df96bc74237ea |
outputSize |
4 |
input |
0100000000000000 |
expected |
42e3a3d8 |
Vector 3 — Squares 3-round: counter=100, key=0xea3742c76bf95d47 - Known test vector
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
key |
475df96bc74237ea |
outputSize |
4 |
input |
6400000000000000 |
expected |
7b2c9b40 |
Vector 4 — Squares 3-round: counter=42, key=0xea3742c76bf95d47
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
key |
475df96bc74237ea |
outputSize |
4 |
input |
2a00000000000000 |
expected |
79a8cc24 |
Vector 5 — Squares 3-round: counter=0xFFFFFFFF, key=0xea3742c76bf95d47 - Max 32-bit counter
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
key |
475df96bc74237ea |
outputSize |
4 |
input |
ffffffff00000000 |
expected |
c9604e43 |
Vector 6 — Squares 3-round: counter=12345, key=0xea3742c76bf95d47
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
key |
475df96bc74237ea |
outputSize |
4 |
input |
3930000000000000 |
expected |
907d8ec2 |