Question

I’m working in Java and I have a list of objects of type TimestampAndValue:

public class TimestampAndValue{
    private double value;
    private long timestamp;

    public long getTimestamp() {
        return timestamp;
    }

    public void setTimestamp(long timestamp) {
        this.timestamp = timestamp;
    }

    public double getValue() {
        return value;
    }

    public void setValue(double value) {
        this.value = value;
    }
}

My list is similar to this:

• Element 1: timestamp = 0, value = 5
• Element 2: timestamp = 4, value = 6
• Element 3: timestamp = 6, value = 10
• Element 4: timestamp = 12, value = 1

And I want to have this list in output:

• Element 1: timestamp = 0, value = 5
• Element 2: timestamp = 1, value = 0
• Element 3: timestamp = 3, value = 0
• Element 4: timestamp = 4, value = 6
• Element 5: timestamp = 5, value = 0
• Element 6: timestamp = 6, value = 10
• Element 7: timestamp = 7, value = 0
• Element 8: timestamp = 11, value = 0
• Element 9: timestamp = 12, value = 1

I’ll try to explain what I need in short. When two timestamps aren’t contiguous integers, I need to place the minimum number of zeros between them. For example in the case between the timestamp 4 and 6 in the above list I need to place only one zero, but in the case in which two timestamps differ by two or more I need to place a zero right after the first timestamp and a zero immediately before the second timestamp. You can see this in the case between timestamp 6 and 10. I need also that the placed zeros have the correct timestamp set.

For now I can’t figure out how to solve it. Thank you for your support!

This is the solution which worked for me using your suggestions:

public static List<TimestampAndValue> insertMinimumNumberOfZerosBetweenValues(List<TimestampAndValue> list){
    if(list == null || list.isEmpty() || list.size() == 1)
        return list;

    int i;
    int j;
    long tempTimestamp1;
    long tempTimestamp2;
    long timestampDifference;

    List<TimestampAndValue> outList = new ArrayList<TimestampAndValue>();

    outList.add(list.get(0));
    for(i=0; i<list.size()-1; i++){
        j=i+1;

        tempTimestamp1 = list.get(i).getTimestamp();
        tempTimestamp2 = list.get(j).getTimestamp();
        timestampDifference = tempTimestamp2 - tempTimestamp1;

        if(timestampDifference == 2){
            TimestampAndValue tav = new TimestampAndValue();
            tav.setTimestamp(tempTimestamp1 + 1);
            tav.setValue(0);

            outList.add(tav);
        }
        else if(timestampDifference > 2){
            TimestampAndValue tav = new TimestampAndValue();
            tav.setTimestamp(tempTimestamp1 + 1);
            tav.setValue(0);

            outList.add(tav);

            TimestampAndValue tav2 = new TimestampAndValue();
            tav2.setTimestamp(tempTimestamp2 - 1);
            tav2.setValue(0);

            outList.add(tav2);
        }                

        outList.add(list.get(j));
    }

    return outList;
}

Answer 1

You have to process pairs of timestamps from the input list, accumulating an output list:

outputList = new list of timestamps;

for (int i = 0; i < numerOfTimestamps-1; i++) {
    timestamp1 = inputList.get(i);
    timestamp2 = inputList.get(i+1);

For each pair compare the distance between them:

• if they are contiguos, add timestamp1 to output list
• if the difference is less than two, add timestamp1 and a new timestamp with 0 to output list
• if the difference is equal to or greater than two, add timestamp1 and two new timestamps with 0 to output list

Then

} // close loop

and add the last timestamp to the output list. (It’s never added by the loop.)

Note that you need to treat the empty input list separately.