The term queue is commonly defined to be a line of people waiting to be served like those you would encounter at many business establishments. Each person is served based on their position within the queue. Thus, the next person to be served is the first in line. As more people arrive, they enter the queue at the back and wait their turn.

A queue structure is well suited for problems in computer science that require data to be processed in the order in which it was received. Some common examples include computer simulations, CPU process scheduling, and shared printer management. You are familiar with a printer queue if you have used a shared printer. Many people may want to use the printer, but only one thing can be printed at a time. Instead of making people wait until the printer is not being used to print their document, multiple documents can be submitted at the same time. When a document arrives, it is added to the end of the print queue. As the printer becomes available, the document at the front of the queue is removed and printed.

• 8.1 The Queue ADT
• 8.2 Queue Implementation
• 8.3 Circular Array Implementation
• 8.4 Priority Queues
• 8.5 Unbounded Priority Queue
• 8.6 Bounded Priority Queue
• 8.7 Application: Computer Simulations
• 8.8 Simulation Implementation
• Chapter Exercises