How do I delete randomly a specified percentage of geometry objects?

A user asked:

I'm trying to create a script that will delete a certain percentage of the objects in a scene. I want the objects to be chosen randomly. I want the script to affect only the meshes.

Answer:

Here is a possible approach:

SCRIPT

   (
   -- Collect the object of a certain type into an array, for example
   -- this one collects all geometry objects, excluding the target objects
   -- which are of Geometry superClass for pre-MAXScript historical reasons

   candidatesArray = for o in Geometry where classof o != TargetObject collect o

   -- Because you want to remove random objects, but a specified percentage,
   -- it is a good idea to make the decision which objects will be deleted
   -- BEFORE actually deleting any objects.
   -- You can create a second array and fill it up with the actual
   -- objects to be deleted:

   deathRowArray = #() -- init. an empty array
   thePercentage = 50.0 -- define the percentage

   -- Calculate the number of objects to delete:
   numberToDelete = (thePercentage / 100.0 * candidatesArray.count) as integer

   -- Loop until the deathRow array is filled
   -- with the desired number of objects:
   while deathRowArray.count < numberToDelete do
   (
     newIndex = random 1 candidatesArray.count --generate new random index
     --if not already chosen, add it to the deathrow array
     if findItem deathRowArray candidatesArray[newIndex] == 0 do
       append deathRowArray candidatesArray[newIndex]
   )
   delete deathRowArray --finally, delete the collected objects
   )