Java find nearest (or equal) value in collection

Question

I have a class along the lines of:

public class Observation {
   private String time;
   private double x;
   private double y;

   //Constructors + Setters + Getters
}

I can choose to store these objects in any type of collection (Standard class or 3rd party like Guava). I have stored some example data in an ArrayList below, but like I said I am open to any other type of collection that will do the trick. So, some example data:

ArrayList<Observation> ol = new ArrayList<Observation>();
ol.add(new Observation("08:01:23",2.87,3.23));
ol.add(new Observation("08:01:27",2.96,3.17));
ol.add(new Observation("08:01:27",2.93,3.20));
ol.add(new Observation("08:01:28",2.93,3.21));
ol.add(new Observation("08:01:30",2.91,3.23));

The example assumes a matching constructor in Observation. The timestamps are stored as String objects as I receive them as such from an external source but I am happy to convert them into something else. I receive the observations in chronological order so I can create and rely on a sorted collection of observations. The timestamps are NOT unique (as can be seen in the example data) so I cannot create a unique key based on time.

Now to the problem. I frequently need to find one (1) observation with a time equal or nearest to a certain time, e.g if my time was 08:01:29 I would like to fetch the 4th observation in the example data and if the time is 08:01:27 I want the 3rd observation.

I can obviously iterate through the collection until I find the time that I am looking for, but I need to do this frequently and at the end of the day I may have millions of observations so I need to find a solution where I can locate the relevant observations in an efficient manner.

I have looked at various collection-types including ones where I can filter the collections with Predicates but I have failed to find a solution that would return one value, as opposed to a subset of the collection that fulfills the "<="-condition. I am essentially looking for the SQL equivalent of SELECT * FROM ol WHERE time <= t LIMIT 1.

I am sure there is a smart and easy way to solve my problem so I am hoping to be enlightened. Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

Try TreeSet providing a comparator that compares the time. It mantains an ordered set and you can ask for TreeSet.floor(E) to find the greatest min (you should provide a dummy Observation with the time you are looking for). You also have headSet and tailSet for ordered subsets.

It has O(log n) time for adding and retrieving. I think is very suitable for your needs.

If you prefer a Map you can use a TreeMap with similar methods.

Answer 2

Sort your collection (ArrayList will probably work best here) and use BinarySearch which returns an integer index of either a match of the "closest" possible match, ie it returns an...

index of the search key, if it is contained in the list; otherwise, (-(insertion point) - 1). The insertion point is defined as the point at which the key would be inserted into the list: the index of the first element greater than the key, or list.size(),

Answer 3

Have the Observation class implement Comparable and use a TreeSet to store the objects, which will keep the elements sorted. TreeSet implements SortedSet, so you can use headSet or tailSet to get a view of the set before or after the element you're searching for. Use the first or last method on the returned set to get the element you're seeking.

If you are stuck with ArrayList, but can keep the elements sorted yourself, use Collections.binarySearch to search for the element. It returns a positive number if the exact element is found, or a negative number that can be used to determine the closest element. http://download.oracle.com/javase/1.4.2/docs/api/java/util/Collections.html#binarySearch(java.util.List,%20java.lang.Object)

Answer 4

If you are lucky enough to be using Java 6, and the performance overhead of keeping a SortedSet is not a big deal for you. Take a look at TreeSet ceiling, floor, higher and lower methods.