Summary
The standard library provides two random-number-related concepts--generator and distribution. Generators are stateful, must be seeded, and produce unsigned integer outputs (raw bits) via operator()(void). The two important generator types are std::random_device, which produces truly random bits, and std::mt19937, which produces pseudo-random bits.
Distributions are usually stateless, and produce numeric data values via operator()(Gen&). The most important distribution type for most programmers will be std::uniform_int_distribution<int>(a,b), which produces integers in the closed range [a,b]. The standard library provides other distributions, such as std::uniform_real_distribution, std::normal_distribution, and std::discrete_distribution, as well as many arcane distributions useful to mathematicians and statisticians.
The one standard algorithm that uses randomness is std::shuffle, which replaces the old-style std::random_shuffle. Don't use random_shuffle in the new code.
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