writeSamples

writeSamples is a function found in several data processing and testing libraries. It writes a collection of sample records to a specified destination, such as a file, database, or network stream. The function typically accepts a collection or generator of samples, a destination or writer object, and an options object. Options may include format (for example JSON, JSON Lines, CSV), encoding, whether to overwrite or append, and an error handling strategy (fail on first error, skip invalid records, or continue). The function may operate synchronously or asynchronously.

Behavior: It iterates over samples, serializes each to the chosen format, and writes to the destination, often with buffering for performance. If the destination supports streaming, writeSamples can push records as they are produced to minimize memory usage. It may provide progress reporting or callbacks for each written sample.

Common use cases: generating test fixtures and synthetic data for development, exporting sample datasets for demonstrations, benchmarking data pipelines, or teaching examples. Typical destinations include local files in JSON Lines or CSV, in-memory streams, or database tables.

Variants: some libraries implement writeSamples as a higher-level wrapper around lower-level writers; others provide a generator-based API that yields write events. Error handling strategies vary; some implementations throw on a bad sample, others skip or log and continue.

See also: readSamples, generateSamples, sample data utilities.