Calculate difference from previous item with LINQ - linq

Question

I'm trying to prepare data for a graph using LINQ.
The problem that i cant solve is how to calculate the "difference to previous.
the result I expect is
ID= 1, Date= Now, DiffToPrev= 0;
ID= 1, Date= Now+1, DiffToPrev= 3;
ID= 1, Date= Now+2, DiffToPrev= 7;
ID= 1, Date= Now+3, DiffToPrev= -6;
etc...
Can You help me create such a query ?
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
namespace ConsoleApplication1
{
public class MyObject
{
public int ID { get; set; }
public DateTime Date { get; set; }
public int Value { get; set; }
}
class Program
{
static void Main()
{
var list = new List<MyObject>
{
new MyObject {ID= 1,Date = DateTime.Now,Value = 5},
new MyObject {ID= 1,Date = DateTime.Now.AddDays(1),Value = 8},
new MyObject {ID= 1,Date = DateTime.Now.AddDays(2),Value = 15},
new MyObject {ID= 1,Date = DateTime.Now.AddDays(3),Value = 9},
new MyObject {ID= 1,Date = DateTime.Now.AddDays(4),Value = 12},
new MyObject {ID= 1,Date = DateTime.Now.AddDays(5),Value = 25},
new MyObject {ID= 2,Date = DateTime.Now,Value = 10},
new MyObject {ID= 2,Date = DateTime.Now.AddDays(1),Value = 7},
new MyObject {ID= 2,Date = DateTime.Now.AddDays(2),Value = 19},
new MyObject {ID= 2,Date = DateTime.Now.AddDays(3),Value = 12},
new MyObject {ID= 2,Date = DateTime.Now.AddDays(4),Value = 15},
new MyObject {ID= 2,Date = DateTime.Now.AddDays(5),Value = 18}
};
Console.WriteLine(list);
Console.ReadLine();
}
}
}

Answer 1

One option (for LINQ to Objects) would be to create your own LINQ operator:
// I don't like this name :(
public static IEnumerable<TResult> SelectWithPrevious<TSource, TResult>
(this IEnumerable<TSource> source,
Func<TSource, TSource, TResult> projection)
{
using (var iterator = source.GetEnumerator())
{
if (!iterator.MoveNext())
{
yield break;
}
TSource previous = iterator.Current;
while (iterator.MoveNext())
{
yield return projection(previous, iterator.Current);
previous = iterator.Current;
}
}
}
This enables you to perform your projection using only a single pass of the source sequence, which is always a bonus (imagine running it over a large log file).
Note that it will project a sequence of length n into a sequence of length n-1 - you may want to prepend a "dummy" first element, for example. (Or change the method to include one.)
Here's an example of how you'd use it:
var query = list.SelectWithPrevious((prev, cur) =>
new { ID = cur.ID, Date = cur.Date, DateDiff = (cur.Date - prev.Date).Days) });
Note that this will include the final result of one ID with the first result of the next ID... you may wish to group your sequence by ID first.

Answer 2

Use index to get previous object:
var LinqList = list.Select(
(myObject, index) =>
new {
ID = myObject.ID,
Date = myObject.Date,
Value = myObject.Value,
DiffToPrev = (index > 0 ? myObject.Value - list[index - 1].Value : 0)
}
);

Answer 3

In C#4 you can use the Zip method in order to process two items at a time. Like this:
var list1 = list.Take(list.Count() - 1);
var list2 = list.Skip(1);
var diff = list1.Zip(list2, (item1, item2) => ...);

Answer 4

Modification of Jon Skeet's answer to not skip the first item:
public static IEnumerable<TResult> SelectWithPrev<TSource, TResult>
(this IEnumerable<TSource> source,
Func<TSource, TSource, bool, TResult> projection)
{
using (var iterator = source.GetEnumerator())
{
var isfirst = true;
var previous = default(TSource);
while (iterator.MoveNext())
{
yield return projection(iterator.Current, previous, isfirst);
isfirst = false;
previous = iterator.Current;
}
}
}
A few key differences... passes a third bool parameter to indicate if it is the first element of the enumerable. I also switched the order of the current/previous parameters.
Here's the matching example:
var query = list.SelectWithPrevious((cur, prev, isfirst) =>
new {
ID = cur.ID,
Date = cur.Date,
DateDiff = (isfirst ? cur.Date : cur.Date - prev.Date).Days);
});

Answer 5

Further to Felix Ungman's post above, below is an example of how you can achieve the data you need making use of Zip():
var diffs = list.Skip(1).Zip(list,
(curr, prev) => new { CurrentID = curr.ID, PreviousID = prev.ID, CurrDate = curr.Date, PrevDate = prev.Date, DiffToPrev = curr.Date.Day - prev.Date.Day })
.ToList();
diffs.ForEach(fe => Console.WriteLine(string.Format("Current ID: {0}, Previous ID: {1} Current Date: {2}, Previous Date: {3} Diff: {4}",
fe.CurrentID, fe.PreviousID, fe.CurrDate, fe.PrevDate, fe.DiffToPrev)));
Basically, you are zipping two versions of the same list but the first version (the current list) begins at the 2nd element in the collection, otherwise a difference would always differ the same element, giving a difference of zero.
I hope this makes sense,
Dave

Answer 6

Yet another mod on Jon Skeet's version (thanks for your solution +1). Except this is returning an enumerable of tuples.
public static IEnumerable<Tuple<T, T>> Intermediate<T>(this IEnumerable<T> source)
{
using (var iterator = source.GetEnumerator())
{
if (!iterator.MoveNext())
{
yield break;
}
T previous = iterator.Current;
while (iterator.MoveNext())
{
yield return new Tuple<T, T>(previous, iterator.Current);
previous = iterator.Current;
}
}
}
This is NOT returning the first because it's about returning the intermediate between items.
use it like:
public class MyObject
{
public int ID { get; set; }
public DateTime Date { get; set; }
public int Value { get; set; }
}
var myObjectList = new List<MyObject>();
// don't forget to order on `Date`
foreach(var deltaItem in myObjectList.Intermediate())
{
var delta = deltaItem.Second.Offset - deltaItem.First.Offset;
// ..
}
OR
var newList = myObjectList.Intermediate().Select(item => item.Second.Date - item.First.Date);
OR (like jon shows)
var newList = myObjectList.Intermediate().Select(item => new
{
ID = item.Second.ID,
Date = item.Second.Date,
DateDiff = (item.Second.Date - item.First.Date).Days
});

Answer 7

Here is the refactored code with C# 7.2 using the readonly struct and the ValueTuple (also struct).
I use Zip() to create (CurrentID, PreviousID, CurrDate, PrevDate, DiffToPrev) tuple of 5 members. It is easily iterated with foreach:
foreach(var (CurrentID, PreviousID, CurrDate, PrevDate, DiffToPrev) in diffs)
The full code:
public readonly struct S
{
public int ID { get; }
public DateTime Date { get; }
public int Value { get; }
public S(S other) => this = other;
public S(int id, DateTime date, int value)
{
ID = id;
Date = date;
Value = value;
}
public static void DumpDiffs(IEnumerable<S> list)
{
// Zip (or compare) list with offset 1 - Skip(1) - vs the original list
// this way the items compared are i[j+1] vs i[j]
// Note: the resulting enumeration will include list.Count-1 items
var diffs = list.Skip(1)
.Zip(list, (curr, prev) =>
(CurrentID: curr.ID, PreviousID: prev.ID,
CurrDate: curr.Date, PrevDate: prev.Date,
DiffToPrev: curr.Date.Day - prev.Date.Day));
foreach(var (CurrentID, PreviousID, CurrDate, PrevDate, DiffToPrev) in diffs)
Console.WriteLine($"Current ID: {CurrentID}, Previous ID: {PreviousID} " +
$"Current Date: {CurrDate}, Previous Date: {PrevDate} " +
$"Diff: {DiffToPrev}");
}
}
Unit test output:
// the list:
// ID Date
// ---------------
// 233 17-Feb-19
// 122 31-Mar-19
// 412 03-Mar-19
// 340 05-May-19
// 920 15-May-19
// CurrentID PreviousID CurrentDate PreviousDate Diff (days)
// ---------------------------------------------------------
// 122 233 31-Mar-19 17-Feb-19 14
// 412 122 03-Mar-19 31-Mar-19 -28
// 340 412 05-May-19 03-Mar-19 2
// 920 340 15-May-19 05-May-19 10
Note: the struct (especially readonly) performance is much better than that of a class.
Thanks #FelixUngman and #DavidHuxtable for their Zip() ideas!