Thinking in Pine - Time Series

Hello everyone,

Welcome back to "Thinking in Pine" short video series. In this video, we discuss the concept of time series variables in Pinescript.

If you are not familiar with var and varip type of variables - please step back and watch this video before continuing - "Thinking in Pine - var, varip and regular variables"

🎲 Summary of our discussion is as follows

1. What are time series variables, and how are they used in Pinescript?
   
2. How do we access historical values of time series?
   
3. Limitations of accessing historical values
   

🎯 Example Program Used

currentBar = bar_index
var currentBarUsingVar = 0
currentBarUsingVar := bar_index

varip showLog = true

valueAt200thBar = ta.valuewhen(bar_index == 500, currentBar, 0)

if(barstate.islast and showLog)
    log.info("Current Bar Values using regular and var variables : {0}, {1}", currentBar, currentBarUsingVar)
    log.info("Last Bar Values using regular and var variables : {0}, {1}", currentBar[1], currentBarUsingVar[1])
    log.info("Values 500 bars ago using regular and var variables : {0}, {1}", currentBar[500], currentBarUsingVar[500])
    offset = bar_index-25000
    log.info("Values at 25000th bar using regular and var variables : {0}, {1}", currentBar[offset], currentBarUsingVar[offset])
    showLog := false

plot(bar_index, "Bar Index", color = color.blue, display = display.data_window)

There are pitfalls of using historical operators within loop or under if condition. We will discuss that in our next video.

🎲 References:

• Pine Script® User Manual - Execution Model
• Pine Script® User Manual - Time Series
• Pine Script® User Manual - History Referencing Operator
• [url=tradingview.com/pine-script-reference/v5/[]]Pine Script® Reference Manual - History Referencing Operator