Best way to generate NSData object with random bytes of a specific length?

Question

If I create a new NSData object of a specific size using dataWithBytes:length:, what is the most efficient way to create the input bytes (20 Mb worth) of random characters, pref

Answer 1

The original version has a bug but mine takes care of that and hopefully doesn't introduce any new one. Hope it helps.

- (NSData *)randomDataWithBytes: (NSUInteger)length {
    NSMutableData *mutableData = [NSMutableData dataWithCapacity: length];
    for (unsigned int i = 0; i < size; i++) { 
        NSInteger randomBits = arc4random();
        [mutableData appendBytes: (void *) &randomBits length: 1];
    } return mutableData;
}

Here is its unit test:

NSInteger givenLength = INT16_MAX;
NSData *randomData = [self randomDataWithBytes: givenLength];
STAssertTrue([randomData length] == givenLength,
             @"RandomDataWithBytes Failed Expected size %d and got %d", 
             givenLength, [randomData length]);