randomUUID

randomUUID is a function commonly found in programming languages and libraries that generates a Universally Unique Identifier (UUID). A UUID is a 128-bit number used to identify information in computer systems. The primary characteristic of a UUID generated by randomUUID is its high probability of being unique across all systems and all times. This makes them useful for tasks where generating unique identifiers is necessary, such as database primary keys, session IDs, or unique file names.

The specific algorithm used by randomUUID can vary, but it generally involves generating random bits to form the identifier. While the term "random" is used, it's important to note that true randomness is difficult to achieve in computing. However, the algorithms employed are designed to produce identifiers that are statistically unique, making collisions (generating the same UUID twice) exceedingly rare.

Different versions of UUIDs exist, each with slightly different generation methods and guarantees. For example, UUID version 4 is typically generated using purely random numbers, while other versions might incorporate timestamps or MAC addresses. The randomUUID function usually defaults to generating a version 4 UUID. When implementing systems that require unique identifiers, using a function like randomUUID is a standard and reliable approach due to the low probability of generating duplicates.