TimelyDataflow / TimelyDataflow/timely-dataflow

Documentation suggestion: use different types for worker IDs, timestamps, and data

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Rust
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Description

In the current documentation, integers are used for everything: worker identifiers, timestamps, and data. This makes the example code snippets unnecessarily confusing, as one has a harder time figuring out which is which and separating the concepts.

I think the examples would be much easier to understand if they used separate data types for all of these. As IIUC worker identifiers are necessarily integers, this leaves you free to use two other data types for inputs and timestamps. I guess arrays/tuples of integers or floats would make fine inputs, but I am not sure how flexible timely is with respect to timestamps. Is everything that has an ordering fine?

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Research direction

Start by locating the documentation examples that use integers for worker identifiers, timestamps, and data. Check what timestamp types timely accepts and update the examples to use distinct types, while preserving integer worker identifiers. Done means the examples clearly separate these concepts and the documentation explains any timestamp constraints.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
rust
Domain
documentation
Issue type
Documentation
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
38/100

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