scienceDataInterfaces
From autoplot.org
Purpose: Serve as a place for notes about the science data interace developed with Jon V. and others at APL.
Audience: Jon V and others at APL, Jeremy
Contents |
1. The Task
Provide a simplified dataset interface that is strongly typed and easier to use than QDataSet. QDataSet is intentionally weakly typed, so that it can be translated to many environments. This has made it difficult to use.
2. Names for things
2.1. Physical Dimensions
Number of physical dimensions. The arrows (→) should be read "yields." Lower case i,j,and k refer to an indices.
| # of Dimensions | SDI | QDataSet | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | X(i)→Y(i) | XYData,BinnedData1D | Rank 1 DataSet with DEPEND_0 |
| 3 | X(i),Y(j)→Z(i,j) | BinnedData2D | Rank 2 DataSet with DEPEND_0 and DEPEND_1 |
| 3 | X(i),Y(i)→Z(i) | XYZData | Rank 2 DataSet with BUNDLE_1=[X,Y,Z] |
| 4 | T(i)→X(i),Y(i),Z(i) | Rank 2 DataSet with BUNDLE_1=[T,X,Y,Z] X has property DEPENDNAME_0=T, etc. | |
| 4 | Time(i),Energy(j),PitchAngle(k)→Flux(i,j,k) | Rank 3 DataSet with DEPEND_0=Time, DEPEND_1=Energy, DEPEND_2=PitchAngle |
2.2. Contiguous Coverage
Is the dimension coverage contiguous? We can define interfaces that assert the contiguous coverage by only allowing access to the lower boundary and the highest bin boundary.
2.3. Simple and Rich Datasets
We break up data into two classes, not having metadata (SimpleXXX) and having metadata (XXX). In addition to having metadata, rich datasets provide a FillDetector and UncertaintyProvider.
3. Glossary
Here is a pile of commonly used words.
Cadence The expected spacing between measurements. QDataSet.CADENCE is this value, and is a rank 0 dataset, but rank 1 may be allowed a future version.
Aliasing Interval accumulation time for the measurement, meaning the measurement should be applied with equal probability during this time.
Duration Another word for Aliasing Interval
Units define a physical dimension. E.g. "seconds since 2000-01-01T00:00" or "Kg"
Datum defines a point within a physical dimension. E.g. "2015-03-15T14:45" or "95.2 Kg"
Basis Special point within a physical dimension that is 0. For example in "seconds since 2000-01-01T00:00" the basis is "2000-01-01T00:00"
DatumRange defines an interval within a physical dimension. Used throughout Das2 and Autoplot.
Bin defines an interval within a physical dimension, but also contains a reference Datum.
Rank QDataSet term for the number of integers needed to index a value in a dataset.
Dimensionality The number of physical dimensions a dataset occupies.
