Data structures docs

datatree/datatree.py

@@ -352,6 +352,10 @@ def ds(self) -> DatasetView:
         An immutable Dataset-like view onto the data in this node.
 
         For a mutable Dataset containing the same data as in this node, use `.to_dataset()` instead.
+
+        See Also
+        --------
+        DataTree.to_dataset
         """
         return DatasetView._from_node(self)
 
@@ -385,7 +389,13 @@ def _pre_attach(self: DataTree, parent: DataTree) -> None:
             )
 
     def to_dataset(self) -> Dataset:
-        """Return the data in this node as a new xarray.Dataset object."""
+        """
+        Return the data in this node as a new xarray.Dataset object.
+
+        See Also
+        --------
+        DataTree.ds
+        """
         return Dataset._construct_direct(
             self._variables,
             self._coord_names,
@@ -424,7 +434,7 @@ def variables(self) -> Mapping[Hashable, Variable]:
 
     @property
     def attrs(self) -> Dict[Hashable, Any]:
-        """Dictionary of global attributes on this node"""
+        """Dictionary of global attributes on this node object."""
         if self._attrs is None:
             self._attrs = {}
         return self._attrs
@@ -435,7 +445,7 @@ def attrs(self, value: Mapping[Any, Any]) -> None:
 
     @property
     def encoding(self) -> Dict:
-        """Dictionary of global encoding attributes on this node"""
+        """Dictionary of global encoding attributes on this node object."""
         if self._encoding is None:
             self._encoding = {}
         return self._encoding

docs/source/data-structures.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,211 @@
+.. _data structures:
+
+Data Structures
+===============
+
+.. ipython:: python
+    :suppress:
+
+    import numpy as np
+    import pandas as pd
+    import xarray as xr
+    import datatree
+
+    np.random.seed(123456)
+    np.set_printoptions(threshold=10)
+
+.. note::
+
+    This page builds on the information given in xarray's main page on
+    `data structures <https://docs.xarray.dev/en/stable/user-guide/data-structures.html>`_, so it is suggested that you
+    are familiar with those first.
+
+DataTree
+--------
+
+:py:class:``DataTree`` is xarray's highest-level data structure, able to organise heterogeneous data which
+could not be stored inside a single ``Dataset`` object. This includes representing the recursive structure of multiple
+`groups`_ within a netCDF file or `Zarr Store`_.
+
+.. _groups: https://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/netcdf/workshops/2011/groups-types/GroupsIntro.html
+.. _Zarr Store: https://zarr.readthedocs.io/en/stable/tutorial.html#groups
+
+Each ``DataTree`` object (or "node") contains the same data that a single ``xarray.Dataset`` would (i.e. ``DataArray`` objects
+stored under hashable keys), and so has the same key properties:
+
+- ``dims``: a dictionary mapping of dimension names to lengths, for the variables in this node,
+- ``data_vars``: a dict-like container of DataArrays corresponding to variables in this node,
+- ``coords``: another dict-like container of DataArrays, corresponding to coordinate variables in this node,
+- ``attrs``: dict to hold arbitary metadata relevant to data in this node.
+
+A single ``DataTree`` object acts much like a single ``Dataset`` object, and has a similar set of dict-like methods
+defined upon it. However, ``DataTree``'s can also contain other ``DataTree`` objects, so they can be thought of as nested dict-like
+containers of both ``xarray.DataArray``'s and ``DataTree``'s.
+
+A single datatree object is known as a "node", and its position relative to other nodes is defined by two more key
+properties:
+
+- ``children``: An ordered dictionary mapping from names to other ``DataTree`` objects, known as its' "child nodes".
+- ``parent``: The single ``DataTree`` object whose children this datatree is a member of, known as its' "parent node".
+
+Each child automatically knows about its parent node, and a node without a parent is known as a "root" node
+(represented by the ``parent`` attribute pointing to ``None``).
+Nodes can have multiple children, but as each child node has at most one parent, there can only ever be one root node in a given tree.
+
+The overall structure is technically a `connected acyclic undirected rooted graph`, otherwise known as a
+`"Tree" <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_(graph_theory)>`_.
+
+.. note::
+
+    Technically a ``DataTree`` with more than one child node forms an `"Ordered Tree" <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_(graph_theory)#Ordered_tree>`_,
+    because the children are stored in an Ordered Dictionary. However, this distinction only really matters for a few
+    edge cases involving operations on multiple trees simultaneously, and can safely be ignored by most users.
+
+
+``DataTree`` objects can also optionally have a ``name`` as well as ``attrs``, just like a ``DataArray``.
+Again these are not normally used unless explicitly accessed by the user.
+
+
+Creating a DataTree
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+There are two ways to create a ``DataTree`` from scratch. The first is to create each node individually,
+specifying the nodes' relationship to one another as you create each one.
+
+The ``DataTree`` constructor takes:
+
+- ``data``: The data that will be stored in this node, represented by a single ``xarray.Dataset``, or a named ``xarray.DataArray``.
+- ``parent``: The parent node (if there is one), given as a ``DataTree`` object.
+- ``children``: The various child nodes (if there are any), given as a mapping from string keys to ``DataTree`` objects.
+- ``name``: A string to use as the name of this node.
+
+Let's make a datatree node without anything in it:
+
+.. ipython:: python
+
+    from datatree import DataTree
+
+    # create root node
+    node1 = DataTree(name="Oak")
+
+    node1
+
+At this point our node is also the root node, as every tree has a root node.
+
+We can add a second node to this tree either by referring to the first node in the constructor of the second:
+
+.. ipython:: python
+
+    # add a child by referring to the parent node
+    node2 = DataTree(name="Bonsai", parent=node1)
+
+or by dynamically updating the attributes of one node to refer to another:
+
+.. ipython:: python
+
+    # add a grandparent by updating the .parent property of an existing node
+    node0 = DataTree(name="General Sherman")
+    node1.parent = node0
+
+Our tree now has three nodes within it, and one of the two new nodes has become the new root:
+
+.. ipython:: python
+
+    node0
+
+Is is at tree construction time that consistency checks are enforced. For instance, if we try to create a `cycle` the constructor will raise an error:
+
+.. ipython:: python
+    :okexcept:
+
+    node0.parent = node2
+
+The second way is to build the tree from a dictionary of filesystem-like paths and corresponding ``xarray.Dataset`` objects.
+
+This relies on a syntax inspired by unix-like filesystems, where the "path" to a node is specified by the keys of each intermediate node in sequence,
+separated by forward slashes. The root node is referred to by ``"/"``, so the path from our current root node to its grand-child would be ``"/Oak/Bonsai"``.
+
+If we have a dictionary where each key is a valid path, and each value is either valid data or ``None``,
+we can construct a complex tree quickly using the alternative constructor ``:py:func::DataTree.from_dict``:
+
+.. ipython:: python
+
+    d = {
+        "/": xr.Dataset({"foo": "orange"}),
+        "/a": xr.Dataset({"bar": 0}, coords={"y": ("y", [0, 1, 2])}),
+        "/a/b": xr.Dataset({"zed": np.NaN}),
+        "a/c/d": None,
+    }
+    dt = DataTree.from_dict(d)
+    dt
+
+Notice that this method will also create any intermediate empty node necessary to reach the end of the specified path
+(i.e. the node labelled `"c"` in this case.)
+
+Finally if you have a file containing data on disk (such as a netCDF file or a Zarr Store), you can also create a datatree by opening the
+file using ``:py:func::~datatree.open_datatree``.
+
+
+DataTree Contents
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Like ``xarray.Dataset``, ``DataTree`` implements the python mapping interface, but with values given by either ``xarray.DataArray`` objects or other ``DataTree`` objects.
+
+.. ipython:: python
+
+    dt["a"]
+    dt["foo"]
+
+Iterating over keys will iterate over both the names of variables and child nodes.
+
+We can also access all the data in a single node through a dataset-like view
+
+.. ipython:: python
+
+    dt["a"].ds
+
+This demonstrates the fact that the data in any one node is equivalent to the contents of a single ``xarray.Dataset`` object.
+The ``DataTree.ds`` property returns an immutable view, but we can instead extract the node's data contents as a new (and mutable)
+``xarray.Dataset`` object via ``.to_dataset()``:
+
+.. ipython:: python
+
+    dt["a"].to_dataset()
+
+Like with ``Dataset``, you can access the data and coordinate variables of a node separately via the ``data_vars`` and ``coords`` attributes:
+
+.. ipython:: python
+
+    dt["a"].data_vars
+    dt["a"].coords
+
+
+Dictionary-like methods
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+We can update the contents of the tree in-place using a dictionary-like syntax.
+
+We can update a datatree in-place using Python's standard dictionary syntax, similar to how we can for Dataset objects.
+For example, to create this example datatree from scratch, we could have written:
+
+# TODO update this example allowing non-dataarray values to ``__setitem__``
+# TODO update this example using ``.coords`` and ``.data_vars`` as setters,
+
+.. ipython:: python
+
+    dt = DataTree()
+    dt["foo"] = xr.DataArray("orange")
+    dt["a"] = DataTree(data=xr.Dataset({"bar": 0}, coords={"y": ("y", [0, 1, 2])}))
+    dt["a/b/zed"] = xr.DataArray(np.NaN)
+    dt["a/c/d"] = DataTree()
+    dt
+
+To change the variables in a node of a ``DataTree``, you can use all the standard dictionary
+methods, including ``values``, ``items``, ``__delitem__``, ``get`` and
+:py:meth:`~xarray.DataTree.update`.
+Note that assigning a ``DataArray`` object to a ``DataTree`` variable using ``__setitem__`` or ``update`` will
+:ref:`automatically align<update>` the array(s) to the original node's indexes.
+
+If you copy a ``DataTree`` using the ``:py:func::copy`` function or the :py:meth:`~xarray.DataTree.copy` it will copy the entire tree,
+including all parents and children.
+Like for ``Dataset``, this copy is shallow by default, but you can copy all the data by calling ``dt.copy(deep=True)``.

docs/source/index.rst

@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ Datatree
    Installation <installation>
    Quick Overview <quick-overview>
    Tutorial <tutorial>
+   Data Model <data-structures>
    API Reference <api>
    How do I ... <howdoi>
    Contributing Guide <contributing>

docs/source/whats-new.rst

@@ -46,6 +46,9 @@ Bug fixes
 Documentation
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
+- Added ``Data Structures`` page describing the internal structure of a ``DataTree`` object, and its relation to
+  ``xarray.Dataset`` objects. (:pull:`103`)
+  By `Tom Nicholas <https://github.com/TomNicholas>`_.
 - API page updated with all the methods that are copied from ``xarray.Dataset``. (:pull:`41`)
   By `Tom Nicholas <https://github.com/TomNicholas>`_.