Select n last elements before some condition is met

Question

Is there any dedicated Interactive Extensions method which will produce the last n elements before some condition is encountered?

For instance for the array src, I'd like to get the element 99 plus 2 elements right before it:

var src = new[] { 1, 2, 3, 4, 99, 5, 6, 7, 99, 8, 9, 10, 99 };

{{3, 4, 99}, {6, 7, 99}, {9, 10, 99}}

I've сome up with the following code, but was wondering if there's a dedicated method or combination of methods to do this.

var result = src.Buffer(3, 1).Where(i => i.Count == 3 && i.Last() == 99);

I think this is as good as you are going to get. Do you have a concern with your existing solution? — Jason Boyd, Jan 08 '19 at 17:48
I just wanted to make sure I'm doing it the right way. I ended up writing an extension method, which combines `Buffer` and `Where` operators. — Max, Jan 09 '19 at 16:44

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 10 '19 at 17:47

So, I was a curious about other solutions as well and decided to play around with it. I did come up with a different solution using windowing:

var src = new[] { 1, 2, 3, 4, 99, 5, 6, 7, 99, 8, 9, 10, 99 };

var obs = src.ToObservable().Publish().RefCount();

var windows =
    obs
    .Zip(
        obs.Skip(2).Concat(Observable.Repeat(0, 2)),
        (chase, lead) => (chase, lead))
    .Publish(pub =>
        pub
        .Window(
            pub.Where(x => x.lead == 99),
            _ => pub.Skip(1)));

With this solution windows is now an IObservable<IObservale<int>>. The marble diagram looks something like this (I hope it makes sense, I'm waffling on the best way to represent an observable of observable):

src: 1--2--3--4--99--5--6--7--99--8--9--10--99--
                   WINDOW QUERY
   : ------3--4--99-----------------------------
   : -------------------6--7--99----------------
   : --------------------------------9--10--99--

At first glance the behavior looks the same as your solution but after playing around with it I realized it behaves quite differently when you have overlapping widows.

If you use this src instead:

// Note the adjacent 99s.
var src = new[] { 1, 2, 3, 4, 99, 99, 6, 7, 99, 8, 9, 10, 99 };

Your solution produces:

{{3, 4, 99}, {4,99,99}, {6, 7, 99}, {9, 10, 99}}

While the windowing solution yields this:

src: 1--2--3--4--99--99--6--7--99--8--9--10--99--
               WINDOW QUERY
   : ------3--4--99-----------------------------
   : ---------4--99--99-------------------------
   : -------------------6--7--99----------------
   : --------------------------------9--10--99--

It doesn't seem that different until you call SelectMany on both results. Then yours looks like this:

{ 3, 4, 99, 4, 99, 99, 6, 7, 99, 9, 10, 99 }

But the windowing solution interleaves the observables (which makes sense):

{ 3, 4, 4, 99, 99, 99, 6, 7, 99, 9, 10, 99 }

One thing to consider when using the Buffer solution is that each buffer requires copying the buffer to a new list before it is returned. So, it's possible the windowing solution could perform better in some scenarios. I admit that I don't understand the inner workings of observables as well as I do enumerables so I would have to do some testing to be sure.

Anyway, it was fun to play around with and it could be a viable solution depending on what your end goal is.

Upvote for trying a thing. Interesting outcome. I would probably still stick with a simple buffer though :) — Joe Phillips, Jan 10 '19 at 17:51

Select n last elements before some condition is met

1 Answers1