Queue ADT

1. A queue can be defined as an ordered list which enables insert operations to be

performed at one end called REAR and delete operations to be performed at another end
called FRONT.

2. Queue is referred to be as First In First Out list.

3. For example, people waiting in line for a rail ticket form a queue.

Applications of Queue
Due to the fact that queue performs actions on first in first out basis which is quite fair for
the ordering of actions. There are various applications of queues discussed as below.

1. Queues are widely used as waiting lists for a single shared resource like printer,
disk, CPU.
2. Queues are used in asynchronous transfer of data (where data is not being
transferred at the same rate between two processes) for eg. pipes, file IO, sockets.
3. Queues are used as buffers in most of the applications like MP3 media player, CD
player, etc.
4. Queue are used to maintain the play list in media players in order to add and
remove the songs from the play-list.
5. Queues are used in operating systems for handling interrupts.

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Complexity
Data Time Complexity Space
Structure Complexity

Average Worst Worst

Access Search Insertion Deletion Access Search Insertion Deletion

Queue θ(n) θ(n) θ(1) θ(1) O(n) O(n) O(1) O(1) O(n)

What is a Queue?
Queue is the data structure that is similar to the queue in the real world. A queue is a data
structure in which whatever comes first will go out first, and it follows the FIFO (First-In-
First-Out) policy.

Queue can also be defined as the list or collection in which the insertion is done from one
end known as the rear end or the tail of the queue, whereas the deletion is done from
another end known as the front end or the head of the queue.

The real-world example of a queue is the ticket queue outside a cinema hall, where the
person who enters first in the queue gets the ticket first, and the last person enters in the
queue gets the ticket at last. Similar approach is followed in the queue in data structure.

The representation of the queue is shown in the below image -

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Types of Queue
There are four different types of queue that are listed as follows -

o Simple Queue or Linear Queue

o Circular Queue
o Priority Queue
o Double Ended Queue (or Deque)

1. Simple Queue or Linear Queue

In Linear Queue, an insertion takes place from one end while the deletion occurs from
another end. The end at which the insertion takes place is known as the rear end, and the
end at which the deletion takes place is known as front end. It strictly follows the FIFO
rule.

The major drawback of using a linear Queue is that insertion is done only from the rear
end. If the first three elements are deleted from the Queue, we cannot insert more
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elements even though the space is available in a Linear Queue. In this case, the linear
Queue shows the overflow condition as the rear is pointing to the last element of the
Queue.

2. Circular Queue
In Circular Queue, all the nodes are represented as circular. It is similar to the linear Queue
except that the last element of the queue is connected to the first element. It is also known
as Ring Buffer, as all the ends are connected to another end.

The representation of circular queue is shown in the below image -

The drawback that occurs in a linear queue is overcome by using the circular queue. If the
empty space is available in a circular queue, the new element can be added in an empty
space by simply incrementing the value of rear. The main advantage of using the circular
queue is better memory utilization.

3. Priority Queue
It is a special type of queue in which the elements are arranged based on the priority. It
is a special type of queue data structure in which every element has a priority associated
with it.

Suppose some elements occur with the same priority, they will be arranged according to
the FIFO principle. The representation of priority queue is shown in the below image -

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Insertion in priority queue takes place based on the arrival, while deletion in the priority
queue occurs based on the priority. Priority queue is mainly used to implement the CPU
scheduling algorithms.

There are two types of priority queue that are discussed as follows -

o Ascending priority queue - In ascending priority queue, elements can be inserted in

arbitrary order, but only smallest can be deleted first. Suppose an array with elements 7,
5, and 3 in the same order, so, insertion can be done with the same sequence, but the
order of deleting the elements is 3, 5, 7.
o Descending priority queue - In descending priority queue, elements can be inserted in
arbitrary order, but only the largest element can be deleted first. Suppose an array with
elements 7, 3, and 5 in the same order, so, insertion can be done with the same sequence,
but the order of deleting the elements is 7, 5, 3.

4. Deque (or, Double Ended Queue)

In Deque or Double Ended Queue, insertion and deletion can be done from both ends of
the queue either from the front or rear. It means that we can insert and delete elements
from both front and rear ends of the queue.

Deque can be used as a palindrome (a word, phrase, or sequence that reads the
same backwards as forwards, e.g. madam) checker means that if we read the string from both
ends, then the string would be the same.

Deque can be used both as stack and queue as it allows the insertion and deletion
operations on both ends. Deque can be considered as stack because stack follows the
LIFO (Last In First Out) principle in which insertion and deletion both can be performed
only from one end. And in deque, it is possible to perform both insertion and deletion
from one end, and Deque does not follow the FIFO principle.

The representation of the deque is shown in the below image -

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To know more about the deque, you can click the link - https://www.javatpoint.com/ds-
deque

There are two types of deque that are discussed as follows -

o Input restricted deque - As the name implies, in input restricted queue, insertion
operation can be performed at only one end, while deletion can be performed from both
ends.

o Output restricted deque - As the name implies, in output restricted queue, deletion
operation can be performed at only one end, while insertion can be performed from both
ends.

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Operations performed on queue
The fundamental operations that can be performed on queue are listed as follows -

o Enqueue: The Enqueue operation is used to insert the element at the rear end of the
queue. It returns void.
o Dequeue: It performs the deletion from the front-end of the queue. It also returns the
element which has been removed from the front-end. It returns an integer value.
o Peek: This is the third operation that returns the element, which is pointed by the front
pointer in the queue but does not delete it.
o Queue overflow (isfull): It shows the overflow condition when the queue is completely
full.
o Queue underflow (isempty): It shows the underflow condition when the Queue is empty,
i.e., no elements are in the Queue.

Ways to implement the queue

There are two ways of implementing the Queue:

o Implementation using array: The sequential allocation in a Queue can be implemented

using an array.
o Implementation using Linked list: The linked list allocation in a Queue can be
implemented using a linked list.