rangemap

RangeMap and RangeInclusiveMap are map data structures whose keys are stored as ranges. Contiguous and overlapping ranges that map to the same value are coalesced into a single range.

Corresponding RangeSet and RangeInclusiveSet structures are also provided.

Different kinds of ranges

RangeMap and RangeInclusiveMap correspond to the Range and RangeInclusive types from the standard library respectively. For some applications the choice of range type may be obvious, or even be dictated by pre-existing design decisions. For other applications the choice may seem arbitrary, and be guided instead by convenience or aesthetic preference.

If the choice is not obvious in your case, consider these differences:

• If your key type K represents points on a continuum (e.g. f64), and the choice of which of two adjacent ranges "owns" the value where they touch is largely arbitrary, then it may be more natural to work with half-open Ranges like 0.0..1.0 and 1.0..2.0. If you were to use closed RangeInclusives here instead, then to represent two such adjacent ranges you would need to subtract some infinitesimal (which may depend, as it does in the case of f64, on the specific value of K) from the end of the earlier range. (See the last point below for more on this problem.)
• If you need to represent ranges that include the maximum value in the key domain (e.g. 255u8) then you will probably want to use RangeInclusives like 128u8..=255u8. Sometimes it may be possible to instead work around this by using a wider key type than the values you are actually trying to represent (K=u16 even though you are only trying to represent ranges covering u8) but in these cases the key domain often represents discrete objects rather than points on a continuum, and so RangeInclusive may be a more natural way to express these ranges anyway.
• If you are using RangeInclusive, then it must be possible to define successor and predecessor functions for your key type K, because adjacent ranges can not be detected (and thereby coalesced) simply by testing their ends for equality. For key types that represent points on a continuum, defining these functions may be awkward and error-prone. For key types that represent discrete objects, this is usually much more straightforward.

Example: use with Chrono

use chrono::offset::TimeZone;
use chrono::{Duration, Utc};
use rangemap::RangeMap;

fn main() {
    let people = ["Alice", "Bob", "Carol"];
    let mut roster = RangeMap::new();

    // Set up initial roster.
    let start_of_roster = Utc.ymd(2019, 1, 7);
    let mut week_start = start_of_roster;
    for _ in 0..3 {
        for person in &people {
            let next_week = week_start + Duration::weeks(1);
            roster.insert(week_start..next_week, person);
            week_start = next_week;
        }
    }

    // Bob is covering Alice's second shift (the fourth shift overall).
    let fourth_shift_start = start_of_roster + Duration::weeks(3);
    let fourth_shift_end = fourth_shift_start + Duration::weeks(1);
    roster.insert(fourth_shift_start..fourth_shift_end, &"Bob");

    for (range, person) in roster.iter() {
        println!("{} ({}): {}", range.start, range.end - range.start, person);
    }

    // Output:
    // 2019-01-07UTC (P7D): Alice
    // 2019-01-14UTC (P7D): Bob
    // 2019-01-21UTC (P7D): Carol
    // 2019-01-28UTC (P14D): Bob
    // 2019-02-11UTC (P7D): Carol
    // 2019-02-18UTC (P7D): Alice
    // 2019-02-25UTC (P7D): Bob
    // 2019-03-04UTC (P7D): Carol
}