--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/Utility.lua	Thu Feb 23 00:34:43 2012 -0500
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+--[[ 
+Title: Suicide Kings
+Author: Brom
+Version: 0.1
+]]
+
+local function RandomCharacter()
+    
+    -- 0-9, A-Z, a-z = 10 + 26 + 16
+    local i = math.random(0,61)
+    
+    -- strip offset and ascii jump
+    if ( i >= 36 ) then
+        -- a:z
+        i = ( i - 36 ) + 97
+    elseif ( i >= 10 ) then
+        -- A:Z
+        i = ( i - 10 ) + 65
+    else
+        -- 0:9
+        i = ( i + 48 )
+    end
+    
+    return string.char( i )
+
+end
+
+function SuicideKings:UID( reserved )
+    
+    -- uid length
+    -- unique values = 62^4 = 14776336
+    local length = 4
+    
+    -- generate a random string
+    local s = RandomCharacter()
+    for i = 1, length-1 do
+        local c = RandomCharacter()
+        s = s .. c
+    end
+    
+    -- if taken, try again
+    while ( reserved[s] ~= nil ) do
+        s = SuicideKings:UID( reserved )
+    end
+    
+    return s
+    
+end
\ No newline at end of file