Re: [RFC] ASOF Join - Mailing list pgsql-hackers

From Isaac Morland
Subject Re: [RFC] ASOF Join
Date
Msg-id CAMsGm5c05UDYys2avxtRU-btnMoA=f42ajwmKWg-V8KaYGdJ_g@mail.gmail.com
Whole thread Raw
In response to Re: [RFC] ASOF Join  (Chapman Flack <chap@anastigmatix.net>)
Responses Re: [RFC] ASOF Join
List pgsql-hackers
On Tue, 23 Nov 2021 at 09:44, Chapman Flack <chap@anastigmatix.net> wrote:
On 11/23/21 02:29, Ilya Anfimov wrote:
> (*We
> strangely don't have an absolute value operator on interval,  but
> I think you've got the point*).

Although tangential to the topic, that might be because a PG interval
is a triple of independently-signed months/days/seconds components.
An interval like '1 month -31 days +12:00:00' is positive or negative
depending on the absolute date you apply it to, so what its absolute
value should be isn't clear in isolation.

Umm, it's definitely negative:

odyssey=> select '1 month -31 days +12:00:00'::interval < '0 months'::interval;
 ?column?
----------
 t
(1 row)

It's just that due to the complexities of our calendar/time systems, adding it to a timestamp can move the timestamp in either direction:

odyssey=> select '2021-02-01'::timestamp + '1 month -31 days +12:00:00'::interval;
      ?column?      
---------------------
 2021-01-29 12:00:00
(1 row)

odyssey=> select '2021-03-01'::timestamp + '1 month -31 days +12:00:00'::interval;
      ?column?      
---------------------
 2021-03-01 12:00:00
(1 row)

I'm working on a patch to add abs(interval) so I noticed this. There are lots of oddities, including lots of intervals which compare equal to 0 but which can change a timestamp when added to it, but as presently designed, this particular interval compares as negative.

pgsql-hackers by date:

Previous
From: Aleksander Alekseev
Date:
Subject: Re: ResourceOwner refactoring
Next
From: Todd Hubers
Date:
Subject: Re: Feature Proposal: Connection Pool Optimization - Change the Connection User