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Lab 12 Binary Heaps Implementation

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Lab 12 Binary Heaps Implementation

Uploaded by

umair khalil
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Lab 12 Binary Heaps Implementation

Learning Outcomes:

After successfully completing this lab the students will be able to:

1. To understand and implement the Binary Heaps


2. To understand the basic insertion and deletion operations on Binary Heaps

Pre-Lab Reading Task:


A binary heap is a complete binary tree in which every node satisfies the heap property which states
that:
If B is a child of A, then key(A) ≥ key(B)
This implies that elements at every node will be either greater than or equal to the element at its left
and right child. Thus, the root node has the highest key value in the heap. Such a heap is commonly
known as a max-heap. Alternatively, elements at every node will be either less than or equal to the
element at its left and right child. Thus, the root has the lowest key value. Such a heap is called a
min-heap.

Figure12. 1: Min and Max Heaps

Figure 12.1 shows a binary min heap and a binary max heap. The properties of binary heaps are
given as follows:
Since a heap is defined as a complete binary tree, all its elements can be stored sequentially in an
array. It follows the same rules as that of a complete binary tree. That is, if an element is at position
i in the array, then its left child is stored at position 2i and its right child at position 2i+1.
Conversely, an element at position i has its parent stored at position i/2.
Being a complete binary tree, all the levels of the tree except the last level are completely filled.
The height of a binary tree is given as log2n, where n is the number of elements. Heaps (also
known as partially ordered trees) are a very popular data structure for implementing priority queues.
A binary heap is a useful data structure in which elements can be added randomly but only the
element with the highest value is removed in case of max heap and lowest value in case of min
heap. A binary tree is an efficient data structure, but a binary heap is more space efficient and
simpler.

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Consider a max heap H with n elements. Inserting a new value into the heap is done in the
following two steps:
1. Add the new value at the bottom of H in such a way that H is still a complete binary tree but
not necessarily a heap.
2. Let the new value rise to its appropriate place in H so that H now becomes a heap as well.
To do this, compare the new value with its parent to check if they are in the correct order. If they
are, then the procedure halts, else the new value and its parent’s value are swapped and Step 2 is
repeated.
The first step says that insert the element in the heap so that the heap is a complete binary tree. So,
insert the new value as the right child of node 27 in the heap.

Figure12. 2: Insertion of a node (99) in Max Heap

Now, as per the second step, let the new value rise to its appropriate place in H so that H becomes a
heap as well. Compare 99 with its parent node value. If it is less than its parent’s value, then the
new node is in its appropriate place and H is a heap. If the new value is greater than that of its
parent’s node, then swap the two values. Repeat the whole process until H becomes a heap.
Deleting an Element from a Binary Heap
Consider a max heap H having n elements. An element is always deleted from the root of the heap.
So, deleting an element from the heap is done in the following three steps:
1. Replace the root node’s value with the last node’s value so that H is still a complete binary
tree but not necessarily a heap.
2. Delete the last node.
3. Sink down the new root node’s value so that H satisfies the heap property. In this step,
interchange the root node’s value with its child node’s value (whichever is largest among its
children). Here, the value of root node = 54 and the value of the last node = 11. So, replace
54 with 11 and delete the last node.
This is illustrated in Figure 12.3 and 12.4 below.

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Figure12. 3: The root node
always gets deleted

Figure12. 4: Deleting a node from a binary heap


Applications of Binary Heaps
Binary heaps are mainly applied for
1. Sorting an array using heap sort algorithm.
2. Implementing priority queues.
Binary Heap Implementation of Priority Queues
We learned about priority queues. We have also seen how priority queues can be implemented using
linked lists. A priority queue is similar to a queue in which an item is dequeued (or removed) from
the front. However, unlike a regular queue, in a priority queue the logical order of elements is
determined by their priority. While the higher priority elements are added at the front of the queue,
elements with lower priority are added at the rear. Conceptually, we can think of a priority queue as
a bag of priorities. In this bag you can insert any priority but you can take out one with the highest
value. Though we can easily implement priority queues using a linear array, but we should first
consider the time required to insert an element in the array and then sort it. We need O(n) time to
insert an element and at least O(n log n) time to sort the array. Therefore, a better way to implement
a priority queue is by using a binary heap which allows both enqueue and dequeue of elements in
O(log n) time.
In-Lab Tasks:
1. Complete the function ‘void insert_node(int x, struct heap_struct * H)’ in the
skeleton code provided.
2. Complete the function ‘void delete_root(struct heap_struct * H)’ in the skeleton
code provided.
Post Lab: Study Binomial Heaps and Fibonacci Heaps.

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