Blocker Description
The class EmpiricalDistribution (in package "o.a.c.m.random") holds an instance field ("randomData") of type RandomDataGenerator.
The documentation of this field indicates that it is only used for sampling, and indeed the field is only accessed in order to fetch the RNG object stored in it.
It is unclear why RandomDataGenerator was needed to hold a RNG since the same RNG could have been (in the current design) readily available in the base class.
Sampling is performed in method getNextValue() (which in turn calls sample() in the parent class).
getNextValue() performs a precondition check before calling sample() and raises a CM specific MathIllegalStateException; but the inherited sample() method can be still called directly on the instance, and in that case, if the (same) condition is not fulfilled, a standard NullPointerException will be thrown instead.
In line with MATH-1158, the sampling functionality should be accessed through the RealDistribution.Sampler interface, and getNextValue() is to be removed as it duplicates the common API (i.e. the sample() method).
Since the RNG is then passed to the createSampler factory method, the "randomData" field becomes obsolete.
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MATH-1158 Factory method to provide sampling from distributions
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- Resolved
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