joejuma / ref_TimeSeries_cpp

A reference implementation of a simple time-series template structure in C++.

Time Series - Reference Implementation (C++)

What is it?

A reference implementation of a container that can map a time-string in the format DD-MM-YYYY @ hh:mm:ss with an arbitrary value of a given template argument type. Includes several additional structures which represent date and time (DateTime, Date, ClockTime) in explicit structures rather than by performing calculations on large integer timestamps.

How to use?

General Usage

1. Download all four *.h files.
2. Put them where you want in your project.
3. Add #include "TimeSeries_struct.h" to the files you want to use it in.
4. TimeSeries<yourDataType> series; to instantiate a time series object.
5. series["01-01-1999 @ 00:00:01"] = someValue; to set the value.
6. series["01-01-1999 @ 00:00:01"] to get that same value.
7. That's really all there is!

Serialization & Deserialization

Special note should be made about serialization, converting a time-series to a string, which is in JSON format, and deserialization ,loading from a string, in JSON format. Since this is a template, the user must provided a function pointer to serializing/deserializing functions when using the respective methods. For example,

Serialization

	std::string convertFloatToString(const float& value)
	{
		return std::to_string(value);
	};
	
	TimeSerieS<float> mySeries;
	// Some code that adds values goes here...
	std::cout << mySeries.toJSON(&convertFloatToString) << "\n";
	

Deserialization

	float convertStringToFloat(const std::string& str)
	{
		return std::stof(str);
	};
	
	TimeSeries<float> mySeries;
	// Load a JSON string of a dictionary of time-keyed floating 
point values.
	
	mySeries.fromJSON(json, &convertStringToFloat);

To-Do

1. Implement deserialization methods to load a TimeSeries from JSON.
2. Look at the existing @todo in code.
3. Look into changing the interface so that fetching non-existant values returns the closest, past time-keyed value, while still allowing assignment to create new keys.

License

See LICENSE.md

Authors

Joseph M. Juma, ChatGPT