Add things to TODO.

1 files changed, 18 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/mert/TODO b/mert/TODO
index 2559e78b5..028ca18e0 100644
--- a/mert/TODO
+++ b/mert/TODO
@@ -4,3 +4,21 @@
     - this may make use of 'evaluator', soon to be added by Matous Machacek
 
 - check that --pairwise-ranked is compatible with all optimization metrics
+
+- Replace the standard rand() currently used in MERT and PRO with better
+  random generators such as Boost's random generators (e.g., boost::mt19937).
+  - create a Random class to hide the details, i.e., how to generate
+    random numbers, which allows us to use custom random generators more
+    easily.
+
+  Pros:
+  - In MERT, you might want to use the random restarting technique to avoid
+    local optima.
+  - PRO uses a sampling technique to choose candidate translation pairs
+    from N-best lists, whic means the choice of random generators seems to
+    be important.
+
+  Cons:
+  - This change will require us to re-create the truth results for regression
+    testing related to MERT and PRO because the new random generator will
+    generate different numbers from the current generator does.