Queues

A Level
Computer Science Unit 7
Paper 1 Data structures

1
Objectives
• Understand the concept of an abstract data type
• Be familiar with the concept and uses of a queue
• Describe the creation and maintenance of data within
a queue (linear, circular, priority)
• Describe and apply the following to a linear, circular
and priority queue
• add an item
• remove an item
• test for an empty queue
• test for a full queue
Queues
Unit 7 Data structures

Introduction to data structures

• Sort these terms into the table based on your current
understanding:
• array, integer, real, list, stack, Boolean, char, queue, string

Category Word
Elementary data type
Composite data type
Abstract data type
Queues
Unit 7 Data structures

Introduction to data structures

Category Word
Elementary data type integer, real, Boolean, char
string, array
[list may also be in this
Composite data type
section, depending on
programming language]
Abstract data type list, stack, queue
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Unit 7 Data structures

Abstraction
• An abstract data type (ADT) is a logical description
of how we view the data and possible operations
• A queue of print jobs (add to the rear, remove from front)
• A stack of books (add to top, remove from top)
• A list of tasks to do (add to the end, remove most important)

• We are concerned only with what the data is

representing and not how it is constructed
• We are creating an encapsulation around the data
• Encapsulation is a type of information hiding
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Unit 7 Data structures

Examples of queues
• What are some examples of queues in real life and
information processing systems?
• What operations can be carried out on a queue?
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Unit 7 Data structures

Modelling a queue
• You might have thought of a queue at the cinema or
supermarket checkout, or a queue of jobs waiting to
be processed or printed
• There are four distinct operations:
• Add item to the rear of the queue
• Remove item from the front of the queue
• Check if the queue is empty
• Check if the queue is full
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Unit 7 Data structures

Add and remove

• Using only the bus cards and the queue card:
• Add bus 118A Sheffield to the queue
• Add another bus 92B York to the queue
• Add bus 142A Leeds to the queue
• Remove a bus from the queue
• Remove another bus from the queue
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Unit 7 Data structures

Add and remove

• After three buses join the queue, it looks like this:

[0] [1] [2] [3] [4]

118A 92B 142A
Sheffield York Leeds

• After two buses leave the queue, it looks like this:

[0] [1] [2] [3] [4]
142A
Leeds

• Is this a good way of implementing a queue?

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Unit 7 Data structures

Front and rear

• It’s very wasteful of CPU cycles to refill memory
locations with blanks - pointers can be used instead
• What should the front pointer hold after three buses have
joined, and two buses have left the queue?
• What should the rear pointer hold?

[0] [1] [2] [3] [4]

118A 92B 142A
Sheffield York Leeds

front = ? rear = ?
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Unit 7 Data structures

Front and rear

• There are different ways of implementing a queue
• The choice only affects the implementation of the operations
• Recall that the implementation is abstracted away from the
user

[0] [1] [2] [3] [4]

118A 92B 142A
Sheffield York Leeds

front = 2 rear = 2

• front points to the next item to remove and rear

points to the last item added
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Unit 7 Data structures

Empty and full queues

• We can’t add to a full queue or remove an item from
an empty queue
• Therefore, when the queue is initialised, we need to
specify the maximum number that it can hold, e.g.
maxSize
• We may also need a variable size to hold the
number of items currently in the queue
• How will a full queue be detected?
Queues
Unit 7 Data structures

Queue functions or methods

• enQueue(item) – add an item to the rear
• deQueue – remove and return an item from the front
• isEmpty – indicates if the queue is empty
• isFull – indicates if the queue is full
Queues
Unit 7 Data structures

Worksheet
• Complete Task 1
• Mochi (shown here) are traditional Japanese rice cakes!
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Unit 7 Data structures

Problems with implementation

• Problems arise with the implementation of a queue
as a fixed-size array
• How many items can be added? Or removed?
• What happens when the queue is full, but there are
some free spaces at the front?
• How could these limitations could be overcome when using
an array?
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Unit 7 Data structures

Circular queue
• A circular queue algorithm overcomes the problem of
reusing the spaces that have been freed by
dequeueing from the front of the array

• Bus 75 from Plymouth pulls in. Where will it go?

Adjust the pointers
Queues
Unit 7 Data structures

Adding to a circular queue

• Pointers go: 0  1  2  3  4  0  1 …
• What function can you use to implement this?
• How will you test for a full queue?
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Unit 7 Data structures

MOD function
• Complete to show the operation of the MOD function

Current (Current + 1 ) (Current + 1 ) New Current

Index MOD 5 Index
0
1
2
3
4
Queues
Unit 7 Data structures

MOD function
• Complete to show the operation of the MOD function

Current (Current + 1 ) (Current + 1 ) New Current

Index MOD 5 Index
0 1 1 1

1 2 2 2

2 3 3 3

3 4 4 4

4 5 0 0
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Unit 7 Data structures

Worksheet
• Complete Task 2 on the worksheet
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Unit 7 Data structures

Pseudocode
• enqueue(item) – add an item to the rear
• dequeue – remove and return an item from the front
• isEmpty – indicates if the queue is empty
• isFull – indicates if the queue is full
Queues
Unit 7 Data structures

Functions isEmpty, isFull

• How do you know if the queue is empty?
• How do you know if the queue is full?
• Assume a queue has been defined as:
q  array of maxSize elements
front  0
rear  -1
size  0

• Write pseudocode for isEmpty and isFull

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Unit 7 Data structures

isEmpty, and isFull

SUB isEmpty SUB isFull
IF size = 0 IF size = maxSize
THEN THEN
RETURN True RETURN True
ELSE ELSE
RETURN False RETURN False
ENDIF ENDIF
ENDSUB ENDSUB

• Can you write these subroutines in a shorter way?

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Unit 7 Data structures

Adding and deleting elements

SUB enqueue(newItem)
IF size = maxSize THEN
print “Queue full”
ELSE
rear = (rear + 1) mod maxItems
q[rear]  newItem
size = size + 1
ENDIF
ENDSUB
• Write a subroutine to dequeue an item
Queues
Unit 7 Data structures

Priority queue
• In a priority queue, some items are allowed to ‘jump’
the queue
• This type of queue is used when the items arriving
have some type of priority associated with them
• What types of priority queues
exist in real-life?
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Unit 7 Data structures

Priority queue
• Each item has a priority associated with it
• In the example of the buses, assume that:
• Buses with numbers ending with A are high priority
• Buses with numbers ending with B are medium priority
• Buses with numbers ending with C are low priority

• Ignoring the complications of a circular queue, insert

the following buses into a priority queue:
92B, 64C,142A, 25C, 87B
• What order are your buses in now?
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Unit 7 Data structures

Priority queue
• You have added the buses 92B, 64C, 87B, 25C and
142A to the queue

142A 92B 87B 64C 25C

• The buses in the queue are in order of priority

• What algorithm are you using to insert buses into the
queue?
• 142A leaves and 75B joins the queue.
• What does the queue look like now?
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Unit 7 Data structures

Dynamic vs static
• Static data structures are fixed in size
• Cannot grow, shrink, or be freed during execution
• An array is a static data structure

• Dynamic data structures can grow and shrink

• Allocates and deallocates memory from the heap (an area of
memory especially used for this purpose)
• Excessive allocation of memory, without deallocation, may
cause overflow (exceeding maximum memory limit)
• Python – list; Java - ArrayList
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Unit 7 Data structures

Worksheet
• Complete the ‘Accident and Emergency’ Task 3 on
the worksheet
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Unit 7 Data structures

Plenary
• Fill in the following table showing a comparison
between a simple linear array queue, a circular
queue, and a circular priority queue
FIFO Queue (array) Circular Queue Priority Queue

Advantages

Disadvantages

Usage
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Unit 7 Data structures

Answers
• Fill in the following table showing a comparison
between a simple linear array queue, a circular
queue, and a circular priority queue
FIFO Queue (array) Circular Queue Priority Queue
Simple to program Can reuse free
Gives preference to
Advantages Predictable spaces
more important items
memory usage

Fixed length
Additional
Single pass Slightly more
Disadvantages Can’t reuse complex to program
processing required
to keep order
spaces

Pre-board on a Accident &

Usage roller-coaster
Printer spooler
emergency
Queues
Unit 7 Data structures

Extension
• Changing the rules to serve the last person to arrive
first, reduces the average wait time
• Why does the other queue always move faster?
• http://sciencenordic.com/queues-move-faster-if-last-person-s
erved-first

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-34153628