CHAPTER 7

Queues
Queues

 A queue is a linear collection whose elements

are added on one end and removed from
another

 Elements are removed in the same order they

arrive

 A queue is FIFO – first in, first out

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A conceptual view of a queue

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Basic operations
 Enqueue:
 store a data item at the rear end of the queue
 make rear to be the new end of the queue

 Dequeue:
 retrieve and remove a data item from the front
of the queue
 make front to be the element that was after
the removed element

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Example
 enqueue Item 1
 enqueue Item 2
 enqueue Item 3
 dequeue
 enqueue Item 4

Item 3 Item 4
Item 2 Item 2 Item 3 Item 3
Item 1 Item 1 Item 1 Item 2 Item 2

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More operations on queues

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ADT definition of Queue
 Notation:
 Q queue
 e item of same type as the elements of Q
 b boolean value

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Operations
 InitQueue(Q)
Procedure to initialize Q to an empty queue

 Preconditions: none
 Postconditions: Q empty

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Operations
 Enqueue(Q,e)
Procedure to place an item e into Q
 Preconditions: Q not full
 Postconditions: size of Q increased by 1

 Dequeue(Q)  e
Procedure to remove and return the front item in Q if Q
is not empty

 Preconditions: Q not empty

 Postconditions: front element removed,
size of Q decreased by 1
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Operations
 first(Q)  e
Procedure to return (without removing)
the front item in Q if Q is not empty
 Preconditions: Q not empty
 Postconditions: Q not changed

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Operations
 IsEmpty(Q)  b
Boolean function that returns TRUE if Q
is empty
 Preconditions: none
 Postconditions: Q not changed

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Queue AXIOMS
 q.InitQueue().IsEmpty() = true
 q.MakeEmpty().IsEmpty() = true
 Note: MakeEmpty is not listed in the textbook

 q.Enqueue(g).IsEmpty() = false
 q.First() = q

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Queue applications
 Wait line simulations
 Radix sorting
 Breadth-first search in a tree/graph

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Queue implementation
 The interface class
 Linked implementation

 Array implementation

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The interface class
public interface QueueADT<T>
{
// Adds one element to the rear of this queue
public void enqueue (T element);
// Removes and returns the front element from this queue
public T dequeue();
// Returns without removing the front element of this queue
public T first();
// Returns true if this queue contains no elements
public boolean isEmpty();
// Returns the number of elements in this stack
public int size();
// Returns a string representation of this queue
public String toString();
}
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Linked implementation
Internally, a queue is represented as a
linked list of nodes,
with a reference to the front of the queue,
a reference to the rear end of the queue,
and an integer count of the number of nodes in
the queue

LinearNode class is reused to define the nodes

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Linked implementation

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Linked Implementation:
Enqueue
 Create a new node
 If queue is empty
 Make front equal to the new node
 Make rear equal to the new node
 Otherwise
 Attach the new node to the rear end of the queue
 Make rear to be the new node
 Increment count
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Linked Implementation:
Enqueue
public void enqueue (T element)
{
LinearNode<T> node = new LinearNode<T>(element);

if (isEmpty())
front = node;
else
rear.setNext (node);

rear = node;
count++;
}
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Linked Implementation:
Dequeue
 Get the contents of the front node
 Make front to be the node after the first
node, or null if this was the only node
 Decrement count
 If queue is empty
 Make rear equal to null
 Return the contents of the retrieved node

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Linked Implementation:
Dequeue
public T dequeue() throws EmptyCollectionException
{
if (isEmpty())
throw new EmptyCollectionException ("queue");

T result = front.getElement();
front = front.getNext();
count--;

if (isEmpty())
rear = null;

return result;
}

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Array implementation
 A queue can be managed using an array in
which index 0 represents one end
 An integer value rear represents the next open
slot in the array and the number of elements
currently in the queue
 The challenge with this approach is that a
queue operates on both ends, so the elements
in the array must be shifted to keep one end at
index 0
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Array implementation

Not efficient

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Circular Array Implementation
 If we don't fix one end of the queue at index
0, we won't have to shift the elements

 A circular queue is an implementation of a

queue using an array that conceptually loops
around on itself

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Circular arrays

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A queue straddling the end of
a circular array

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Changes in a circular array
implementation of a queue

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Enqueue in circular array
 When an element is enqueued, the value of
rear is incremented
 But it must take into account the need to loop
back to 0:
rear = (rear+1) % queue.length;
 Note that this array implementation can also
reach capacity and may need enlarging

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Dequeue in Circular Array
 When an element is dequeued, the value of
front is incremented
 But it must take into account the need to loop
back to 0:
front = (front+1) % queue.length;
 The queue is empty when front becomes
equal to rear

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Complexity of the queue
operations
 The enqueue operation is O(1) for all
implementations

 The dequeue operation is O(1) for linked and

circular array implementations, but O(n) for
the noncircular array version

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Examples 1a
 Problem 1:
 AppendQueue(Q,P): A procedure to append a
queue P onto the end of a queue Q, leaving P
empty.
 Pre: queue P and queue Q, initialized (possibly
empty)
 Post: Q contains all elements originally in Q,
followed by the elements that were in P in same
order. P is empty.

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Examples 1b
 Algorithm:
while not isEmpty(P)
e  dequeue(P)
enqueue(Q,e)

 Complexity of the algorithm: O(N), N - the

number of elements in P.

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Examples 2a
 Problem 2:

ReverseQueue(Q): A procedure to reverse

the elements in a queue Q, using a stack

 Pre: queue Q, initialized (possibly empty)

 Post: Q contains all elements re-written in
reverse order
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Examples 2b
 Algorithm:
Create a new stack S
while not isEmpty(Q)
push(S, dequeue(Q))
while not isEmpty(S)
enqueue(Q,pop(S))

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