IStateful Interface

All random number generator engines are stateful and must support saving and loading their complete state in a stable, portable format that works across all architectures (x86, x64, ARM, ARM64), operating systems, and .NET runtimes.

State Format Requirements:

• Little-endian byte order: State bytes are always interpreted as little-endian regardless of the host architecture's native endianness.
• Stable across versions: The state format must remain stable across library versions to ensure long-term persistence and reproducibility.
• Architecture-independent: The same byte sequence must produce the same generator state on all platforms.
• Complete state capture: All information required to reproduce subsequent outputs must be included in the saved state.

Usage Pattern:

To save and restore generator state:

// Save state
var rng = new Pcg64Engine();
byte[] stateBytes = new byte[rng.StateSize];
rng.SaveState(stateBytes);

// Load state (same or different process/machine)
var rng2 = new Pcg64Engine();
rng2.LoadState(stateBytes);
// rng2 now produces the same sequence as rng would have

Reference