# "extended" vector with heterogeneous "padding"

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/extended-vector-with-heterogeneous-padding/118140>\
**Category:** General Usage\
**Created:** [August 13, 2024, 2:54pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/extended-vector-with-heterogeneous-padding/118140 "2024-08-13T14:54:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ffevotte](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/ffevotte/32/6587_2.png) [@ffevotte](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/ffevotte)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2024, 2:54pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/extended-vector-with-heterogeneous-padding/118140/1 "2024-08-13T14:54:42Z")

</div>

Hello,

I seem to frequently encounter situations where accounting for boundary/initial conditions requires “extending” vectors in a way similar to padding, but where padded values are not necessarily constant and might not even be of the same type as the values stored in the parent vector.

Latest case in point:

> **(Minimal code to make the example runnable)**
>
> ```julia
> struct ExtendedVector{N, T, V}
> vec :: V
> ext :: NTuple{N, Pair{Int, T}}
> end
> 
> extend_vector(vec, args...) = ExtendedVector(vec, args)
> 
> function Base.getindex(ev::ExtendedVector, i::Int)
> for (j, v) in ev.ext
> i == j && return v
> end
> return ev.vec[i]
> end
> 
> ```

```julia-repl
julia> using JuMP
julia> m = Model();
julia> N = 5;
julia> @variable(m, x[1:N]);
       
julia> # Everything should behave as if
       # x̄[0] == 0, and
       # x̄[N+1] == 1
       x̄ = extend_vector(x, 0=>0, N+1=>1);

julia> # No need for explicit code to take care of boundary conditions
       @constraint(m, [i∈1:N],
                   x̄[i+1] - 2x̄[i] + x̄[i-1] <= 1)
5-element Vector{ConstraintRef{...}}:
 -2 x[1] + x[2] ≤ 1
 x[1] - 2 x[2] + x[3] ≤ 1
 x[2] - 2 x[3] + x[4] ≤ 1
 x[3] - 2 x[4] + x[5] ≤ 1
 x[4] - 2 x[5] ≤ 0

```

I’m not sure how to call such an “extended vector”. Does there exist anything like this in the ecosystem? Under what name?

I can use the minimal implementation above in my real use case, but I expect things might get more complicated very quickly if I ever need more features (like a full `AbstractVector`-like behavior). And if something more fancy already exists, I might as well use it instead.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mbauman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/mbauman/32/31082_2.png) [@mbauman](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/mbauman)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2024, 3:53pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/extended-vector-with-heterogeneous-padding/118140/2 "2024-08-13T15:53:47Z")

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That kinda sounds like Interpolations.jl extrapolations?

> **[Extrapolation · Interpolations.jl](http://juliamath.github.io/Interpolations.jl/latest/extrapolation/)**
>
> Documentation for Interpolations.jl.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ffevotte](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/ffevotte/32/6587_2.png) [@ffevotte](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/ffevotte)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2024, 8:39am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/extended-vector-with-heterogeneous-padding/118140/3 "2024-08-14T08:39:35Z")

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Thanks!

To be clear, are you suggesting to refer to this as an “extrapolated” vector instead of an “extended” vector? Or are you implying that Interpolations.jl’s `extrapolate` function could actually be used for this as it is?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mbauman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/mbauman/32/31082_2.png) [@mbauman](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/mbauman)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2024, 1:12pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/extended-vector-with-heterogeneous-padding/118140/4 "2024-08-14T13:12:44Z")

</div>

Both! But they don’t just pad one or two indices, it’s everything:

```Julia-repl
julia> using Interpolations

julia> etp = extrapolate(interpolate(1:7, NoInterp()), missing)
7-element extrapolate(interpolate(::UnitRange{Int64}, NoInterp()), missing) with element type Union{Missing, Int64}:
 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7

julia> etp[begin]
1

julia> etp[0]
missing

julia> etp[end]
7

julia> etp[end+1]
missing

julia> etp[-1000]
missing

```

They also permit floating point indexing in ways you may not want:

```julia-repl
julia> etp[1.0]
1

julia> etp[0.9]
missing

julia> etp[1.1]
ERROR: InexactError: Int64(1.1)

```

You may still want a specialize type that explicitly includes the padding as its axes and such.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Salmon](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/salmon/32/22968_2.png) [@Salmon](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Salmon)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2024, 4:05pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/extended-vector-with-heterogeneous-padding/118140/5 "2024-08-15T16:05:40Z")

</div>

Maybe you can use functionality from Stencils.jl although I have never tried to use it with JUMP.  
But there are different ways to implement boundaries (periodic, always some fixed value, or also the option to embed it into a larger array (ghost cells) so the stencil never indexes out of bounds.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Salmon](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/salmon/32/22968_2.png) [@Salmon](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Salmon)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2024, 4:08pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/extended-vector-with-heterogeneous-padding/118140/6 "2024-08-15T16:08:07Z")

</div>

PS: actually i dont know if its possible to use asymmetrical padding but maybe you can work around it by using a halo and manually setting the value at the halo indices?