Topic 7

Queue

TSE3124 - DATA STRUCTURES

 Introduction

 A queue is an abstract linear data structure, in which elements are

inserted at one end and removed from another end of the
structure.
 Operations in a queue are also known as First-In-First-Out (FIFO).
 The first element inserted into a queue will be the front element
and the last element inserted will be the tail of queue.
 Insertion is only done at the tail of the queue while removal is
done to the front element.
 A queue can be implemented using an array (static storage) or a
linked list (dynamic storage).

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 Queues

 queue: Retrieves elements in the order they were added.

 First-In, First-Out ("FIFO")
 Elements are stored in order of
insertion but don't have indexes.
 Client can only add to the end of the
queue, and can only examine/remove
the front of the queue.

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 Basic queue operations:
Methods 
Modifier and Type Method and Description

boolean add(E e)
Inserts the specified element into this queue if it is possible to do so
immediately without violating capacity restrictions, returning true upon
success and throwing an IllegalStateException if no space is currently
available.

E element()
Retrieves, but does not remove, the head of this queue.

boolean offer(E e)
Inserts the specified element into this queue if it is possible to do so
immediately without violating capacity restrictions.

E peek()
Retrieves, but does not remove, the head of this queue, or returns null if
this queue is empty.

E poll()
Retrieves and removes the head of this queue, or returns null if this
queue is empty.

E remove()
Retrieves and removes the head of this queue.

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 The Queue ADT
 The Queue ADT stores  Auxiliary queue
arbitrary objects operations:
 Insertions and deletions follow  object front(): returns the
the first-in first-out scheme element at the front without
removing it
 Insertions are at the rear of
 integer size(): returns the
the queue and removals are at number of elements stored
the front of the queue
 boolean isEmpty():
 Main queue operations: indicates whether no
 enqueue(object): inserts an elements are stored
element at the end of the  Exceptions
queue
 Attempting the execution of
 object dequeue(): removes dequeue or front on an
and returns the element at the empty queue throws an
front
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STRUCTURES EmptyQueueException
 Queue Example
Operation Output Q 
enqueue(5) – (5)
enqueue(3) – (5, 3)
dequeue()5 (3)
enqueue(7) – (3, 7)
dequeue()3 (7)
front() 7 (7)
dequeue()7 ( )
dequeue()“error” ( )
isEmpty()true ( )
enqueue(9) – (9)
enqueue(7) – (9, 7)
size() 2 (9, 7)
enqueue(3) – (9, 7, 3)
enqueue(5) – (9, 7, 3, 5) TSE3124 - DATA
STRUCTURES
dequeue()9 (7, 3, 5)
 Array-based Queue

 Use an array of size N in a circular fashion

 Two variables keep track of the front and rear
f index of the front element
r index immediately past the rear element
 Array location r is kept empty
normal configuration
Q
0 1 2 f r
wrapped-around configuration
Q
0 1 2 r f
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 Queue Operations

 We use the Algorithm size()

return (N - f + r) mod N
modulo operator
(remainder of Algorithm isEmpty()
return (f = r)
division)

Q
0 1 2 f r

Q
0 1 2 r f

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 Queue Operations (cont.)

 Operation enqueue Algorithm enqueue(o)

if size() = N - 1 then
throws an exception if
throw FullQueueException
the array is full else
 This exception is Q[r]  o
implementation- r  (r + 1) mod N
dependent

Q
0 1 2 f r
Q
0 1 2 r f

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 Queue Operations (cont.)

Algorithm dequeue()
 Operation dequeue if isEmpty() then
throws an exception throw EmptyQueueException
if the queue is empty else
o  Q[f]
 This exception is f  (f + 1) mod N
specified in the return o
queue ADT

Q
0 1 2 f r
Q
0 1 2 r f
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 Application of Queues

 Operating systems:
 queue of print jobs to send to the printer
 queue of programs / processes to be run
 queue of network data packets to send

 Programming:
 modeling a line of customers or clients
 storing a queue of computations to be performed in order

 Real world examples:

 people on an escalator or waiting in a line
 cars at a gas station (or on an assembly line)

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 Application: Round Robin
Schedulers
 We can implement a round robin scheduler
using a queue, Q, by repeatedly performing
the following steps:
1. e = Q.dequeue()
2. Service element e
3. Q.enqueue(e)

The Queue

1. Deque the 2 . Service the 3. Enqueue the

next element next element serviced element

Shared
Service

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 Programming with Queues
add(value places given value at back of queue
)
remove() removes value from front of queue and returns it;
throws a NoSuchElementException if queue is
empty
peek() returns front value from queue without removing it;
returns null if queue is empty
size() returns number of elements in queue
Queue<Integer> q = new LinkedList<Integer>();
isEmpty()
q.add(42); returns true if queue has no elements
q.add(-3);
q.add(17); // front [42, -3, 17] back

System.out.println(q.remove()); // 42

 IMPORTANT: When constructing a queue you must use a new LinkedList object instead of a new Queue
object.
 This has to do with a topic we'll discuss later called interfaces. TSE3124 - DATA
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 Queue Interface in Java

public interface Queue {

 Java interface
corresponding to
our Queue ADT
 Requires the
definition of class
EmptyQueueException
}
 No corresponding
built-in Java class
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public int size();
public boolean isEmpty();
public Object front()
throws EmptyQueueException;
public void enqueue(Object o);
public Object dequeue()
throws EmptyQueueException;
 Queue Idioms

 As with stacks, must pull contents out of queue to view them.

while (!q.isEmpty()) {
do something with q.remove();
}
 another idiom: Examining each element exactly once.

int size = q.size();

for (int i = 0; i < size; i++) {
do something with q.remove();
(including possibly re-adding it to the queue)
}
 Why do we need the size variable? TSE3124 - DATA STRUCTURES
 Another method of
queue
implementation is by
using linked list, as
shown in class
MyQueue2

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 Mixing stacks and
queues
 We often mix stacks and queues to achieve certain effects.
 Example: Reverse the order of the elements of a queue.

Queue<Integer> q = new LinkedList<Integer>();

q.add(1);
q.add(2);
q.add(3); // [1, 2, 3]

Stack<Integer> s = new Stack<Integer>();

while (!q.isEmpty()) { // Q -> S

s.push(q.remove());
}

while (!s.isEmpty()) { // S -> Q

q.add(s.pop());
}

System.out.println(q); // [3, 2, 1]

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