[SciPy-User] scikits.timeseries question

[Matt Knox]

Christopher Barker <Chris.Barker <at> noaa.gov> writes:
> >> In [43]: da = ts.date_array((1,2,3,4), start_date=sd)
> > 
> > Check the doc for date_array: the first argument can be
> >         * an existing :class:`DateArray` object;
> >         * a sequence of :class:`Date` objects with the same frequency;
> >         * a sequence of :class:`datetime.datetime` objects;
> >         * a sequence of dates in string format;
> >         * a sequence of integers corresponding to the representation of 
> >           :class:`Date` objects.
> 
> That's what I have: a sequence of integers corresponding to the 
> representation of the Date objects (doesn't it represent them as "units 
> since start date" where units is the "freq" ?
> 
> If that's not what if means, then what does it mean?

I agree the documentation is perhaps a bit confusing here. The sequence of
integers being referred to are the internal representation of the Date objects
(eg. ts.now('d').value) which is absolute, not relative (not relative to a
custom start date anyway). Another thing you are missing is that the first
argument (dlist) is not supposed to be used in conjunction with the start_date
parameter.

There are a couple ways to call date_array:

1. using the `dlist` argument, possibly in combination with the `freq` argument
   if freq is not implicit with the dlist being passed.

2. Using the `start_date` parameter in combination with either the `length` or
   `end_date` parameter. This option would only be used for a continuous time
   series (ie. no missing or duplicated dates)

Whether this is a good api is probably debateable, but that is how it works
currently.

In addition to the methods described by Pierre and Robert, you could also do:
    
>>> sd = ts.now('d')
>>> relative_days = np.array([1,5,8])
>>> absolute_days = relative_days + sd.value
>>> darray = ts.date_array(absolute_days, freq = sd.freq)

which I think probably has the lowest overhead (but don't hold me to that :) )
if that matters for your application.

- Matt