Delta

Delta Manual

Overview

The delta codec takes a single numeric input. The numeric input is interpreted as unsigned integers of the given element width (either 1, 2, 4, or 8).

Inputs

A single numeric input.

Outputs

A single numeric output.

Use Cases

The delta codec is useful when handling numeric data which has some consistent relationship between its consecutive elements. For example, the delta codec might be useful for the timestamp column of a time series which has monotonically increasing values.

There are many reasonable successors to the delta codec, depending on the relationship between the input elements. constant is an ideal successor if the input is an arithmetic series, i.e. has a constant delta. fieldlz might be a good successor if there is a lot of repetition of deltas or if there is a consistent pattern. entropy could also be a good next state if the deltas are small, but otherwise do not have a lot of repetition. Similarly transpose + entropy could be useful for well-clustered larger numbers, since it separates highly predictable high bytes from less predictable ones.