And what's so bad about doing this:

for (i=0; i < n-1; i++) { swap_positions(array, i, i+rand(n-i)); }

which populates the array by randomly choosing the next element?

That one's fine, and is equivalent to Knuth's Algorithm P, except that it does two more additions per iteration. -- Jim Gillogly Trewesday, 9 Blotmath S.R. 1998, 19:16 12.19.5.11.12, 10 Eb 5 Zac, Seventh Lord of Night