Docs: delimited files (CSV)

MathNet.Numerics.sln

@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ Project("{2150E333-8FDC-42A3-9474-1A3956D46DE8}") = "Build", "Build", "{A4A66FA9
 EndProject
 Project("{2150E333-8FDC-42A3-9474-1A3956D46DE8}") = "Docs", "Docs", "{039229DA-AFDA-48DB-B7FC-B064691DEE96}"
 	ProjectSection(SolutionItems) = preProject
+		docs\content\CSV.fsx = docs\content\CSV.fsx
 		docs\content\DescriptiveStatistics.fsx = docs\content\DescriptiveStatistics.fsx
 		docs\content\Distance.fsx = docs\content\Distance.fsx
 		docs\content\Functions.fsx = docs\content\Functions.fsx

docs/content/CSV.fsx

@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
+(*** hide ***)
+#I "../../out/lib/net40"
+#r "MathNet.Numerics.dll"
+#r "MathNet.Numerics.FSharp.dll"
+
+(**
+Delimited Text Files (CSV & TSV)
+================================
+
+Likely the most common text file format for tabular data, CSV or TSV files store data as text
+with one line per row and each column value separated by a comma or tabulator.
+Such delimited text files are supported by virtually all software that deals with
+tabular data in some way.
+
+Example:
+
+    [lang=text]
+    A,B,C
+    0.5,0.6,98.0
+    2.0,3.4,5.3
+
+Unfortunately there are multiple ways to separate values and to deal with spacing around them.
+CSV files typically use commas like in the example and TSV typically tabulators, but other separators
+like semicolons or colons are common as well. Delimited files can optionally have headers on the first line
+to describe the columns below (A, B and C in the example).
+
+Math.NET Numerics provides basic support for delimited files with the **MathNet.Numerics.Data.Text** package,
+which is available on NuGet as separate package and not included in the basic distribution.
+
+
+Reading a delimited file as matrix
+----------------------------------
+
+The `DelimitedReader` class provides static functions to read a matrix in delimited form:
+
+* **Read**: read from a TextReader. If you have your delimited data already in memory in a string,
+  you can use this method using a StringReader.
+* **ReadStream**: read directly from a stream, e.g. a MemoryStream, FileStream or NetworkStream.
+* **ReadFile**: read from a file, specified by the file system path.
+
+All these functions are generic in the data type of the matrix to be generated.
+Only Double, Single, Complex and Complex32 are supported (C#: double, float; F#: float, float32).
+
+Example:
+
+    [lang=csharp]
+    Matrix<double> matrix = DelimitedReader.Read<double>("data.csv", false, ",", true);
+
+In addition to the file path, stream or text reader as first argument, the behavior can be customized
+with the following optional arguments:
+
+* **sparse**: Whether the the returned matrix should be constructed as sparse (true) or dense (false).  
+  Default: false.
+* **delimiter**: Number delimiter between numbers of the same line. Supports Regex groups.  
+  Default: `\s` (white space).
+* **hasHeaders**: Whether the first row contains column headers or not.  
+  Default: false.
+* **formatProvider**: The culture to use. It is often a good idea to use InvariantCulture here,
+  to make the format invariant from the local culture.  
+  Default: null.
+
+
+Writing a matrix as delimited file
+----------------------------------
+
+The dual to the delimiter above is the `DelimitedWriter` class that can serialize a matrix
+to a delimited text file, stream or TextWriter.
+
+The static Write functions accept the following optional arguments, in addition to the matrix and target
+as first two required arguments.
+
+* **delimiter**: Number delimiter to write between numbers of the same line.  
+  Default: `,` (white space).
+* **columnHeaders**: list of column header strings, or null if no headers should be written.  
+  Default: null.
+* **format**: The number format to use on each element. Default: null.
+* **formatProvider**: The culture to use. It is often a good idea to use InvariantCulture here,
+  to make the format invariant from the local culture.  
+  Default: null.
+
+Example:
+
+    [lang=csharp]
+    DelimitedWriter.WriteFile(matrix, "data.csv");
+
+
+Alternatives
+------------
+
+The data extension packages also offer other ways to serialize a matrix to a binary stream or file.
+Among others:
+
+* NIST MatrixMarket text files
+* MATLAB mat files
+
+*)

docs/tools/templates/template.cshtml

@@ -80,13 +80,14 @@
                         <li>API Reference (new)</li>
 
                         <li class="nav-header">Working Together</li>
+                        <li><a href="@Root/CSV.html">Delimited Text Files (CSV)</a></li>
+                        <li>NIST MatrixMarket</li>
                         <li>FsLab & Deedle</li>
                         <li>Microsoft Excel</li>
                         <li>Intel MKL</li>
                         <li>numl.net machine learning</li>
                         <li>MATLAB</li>
                         <li>R-project</li>
-                        <li>NIST MatrixMarket</li>
 
                     </ul>
                 </div>