create a macro to reduce the head strain of getting the width of a type

makefile

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 CC      ?= cc
-CFLAGS  += -Wall -Wextra -Wpedantic -O3 -MD -MP -std=gnu99
+CFLAGS  += -Wall -Wextra -Wpedantic -O3 -MD -MP -std=gnu99 -DNDEBUG
 LDFLAGS +=
 
 SRC = $(shell find src/ -name '*.c')

src/main.c

@@ -1,30 +1,42 @@
-#include <bits/time.h>
+#include <assert.h>
 #include <errno.h>
 #include <limits.h>
 #include <stdint.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
-#include <sys/types.h>
+#include <sys/random.h>
 #include <time.h>
 
-#define error(ret, s, ...)                   \
-	do {                                     \
-		fprintf(stderr, (s), ##__VA_ARGS__); \
-		exit(ret);                           \
+#define error(ret, s, ...)                             \
+	do {                                               \
+		fprintf(stderr, (s)__VA_OPT__(, __VA_ARGS__)); \
+		exit(ret);                                     \
 	} while (0)
 
+#define WIDTHOF(x) (sizeof(x) * 8)
+
 typedef unsigned long long ull;
 
+typedef struct dynrdat {
+	size_t cap;
+	ull dat[];
+} dynrdat;
+
+dynrdat* rdat = NULL;
+
+static inline ull pow2_ceil(ull x) {
+	x -= !!x; // if x=0, remains 0; else x -= 1
+	return 1ULL << (WIDTHOF(ull) - __builtin_clzll(x | 1));
+}
+
+static void quit(void) {
+	free(rdat);
+}
 
 int main(int argc, char** argv) {
-	// get the current time to set as the seed
-	struct timespec ts;
-	clock_gettime(CLOCK_MONOTONIC, &ts);
-	srandom(ts.tv_nsec);
-
 	// return the result if no input
-	if (argc <= 1)
-		return printf("%s\n", (rand() & 1) ? "heads" : "tails");
+	if (argc <= 1) return printf("%s\n", (clock() & 1) ? "heads" : "tails");
+	atexit(quit);
 
 	// loop through arguments
 	for (unsigned i = 1; i < (unsigned)argc; ++i) {
@@ -33,28 +45,47 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv) {
 		ull c = strtoull(argv[i], NULL, 10);
 		if (errno != 0) error(errno, "parse error for string: '%s'\n", argv[i]);
 
+		// acquire random data (compiler will optimize MOD and DIV away since they're both base-2 constant values)
+		int mod = c % WIDTHOF(ull); // get the remainder of the available random bits
+		c = c / WIDTHOF(ull);       // compute our "word count"
+
+		// dynamically scale the array to our needs, ensuring 2^n scaling
+		size_t cap = pow2_ceil(c + !!mod);
+		if (!rdat || rdat->cap < cap) {
+			void* ptr = realloc(rdat, sizeof(dynrdat) + sizeof(ull) * cap);
+			if (!ptr) error(1, "insufficient memory\n", );
+
+			rdat = ptr;
+			rdat->cap = cap;
+		}
+
+		// populate the array with random data
+		if (getrandom(rdat->dat, (c + !!mod) * sizeof(ull), 0) < 0)
+			error(1, "failed to acquire random data!\n", );
+
 		// perform for the input count
 		ull headsc = 0; // amount of heads
 		ull tailsc = 0; // amount of tails
 
-		while (c >= 31) {
-			c -= 31;
-			long n = random();                // generate a random number for this batch
-			int cnt = __builtin_popcountl(n); // counts the set bits
+		// loop through how many full words there are available
+		ull* n = rdat->dat; // initialize the pointer to the start of our random data
+		for (; n < (rdat->dat + c); n++) {
+			int cnt = __builtin_popcountll(*n); // counts the set bits
 			headsc += cnt;
-			tailsc += 31 - cnt;
+			tailsc += WIDTHOF(ull) - cnt;
 		}
 
-		if (c > 0) {
-			long n = random();
-			long msk = (1 << c) - 1;
-			int cnt = __builtin_popcountl(n & msk);
+		// if there is a remainder, use the last N to get this
+		if (mod) {
+			ull msk = (1 << mod) - 1; // get a mask with the set word size
+			int cnt = __builtin_popcountll(*n & msk);
 			headsc += cnt;
-			tailsc += c - cnt;
+			tailsc += mod - cnt;
 		}
 
 		// print the results of this cycle
 		printf("results:\n heads: %llu\n tails: %llu\n", headsc, tailsc);
 	}
+
 	return 0;
 }