Module Pqueue

module Pqueue: sig .. end

Priority queues.

The Pqueue module implements a data structure of priority queues, given a totally ordered type for elements. This is a mutable data structure. Both min- and max-priority queues are provided.

The implementation uses a heap stored in a dynamic array, and is therefore reasonably efficient: accessing the minimum (resp. maximum) element takes constant time, and insertion and removal take time logarithmic in the size of the priority queue. Note that of_array runs in linear time (and thus must be preferred to repeated insertions with add).

It is fine to have several elements with the same priority. Nothing is guaranteed regarding the order in which they will be popped. However, it is guaranteed that the element returned by min_elt (or get_min_elt) is the one that is removed from the priority queue by pop_min (or remove_min). This is important in many algorithms, (e.g. when peeking at several priority queues and then selecting one to remove from).


module type OrderedType = sig .. end

Input signature of the functors Pqueue.MakeMin and Pqueue.MakeMax.

module type Min = sig .. end

Output signature of the functor Pqueue.MakeMin.

module MakeMin: 
functor (E : OrderedType-> Min with type elt := E.t

Functor building an implementation of the min-priority queue structure given a totally ordered type for elements.

module type Max = sig .. end

Output signature of the functor Pqueue.MakeMax.

module MakeMax: 
functor (E : OrderedType-> Max with type elt := E.t

Functor building an implementation of the max-priority queue structure given a totally ordered type for elements.

Polymorphic priority queues

The following, more complex functors create polymorphic queues of type 'a t, just like other polymorphic containers (lists, arrays...). They require a notion of "polymorphic elements" 'a
    elt
that can be compared without depending on the values of 'a.

One usage scenario is when the user wants to pass priorities separately from the value stored in the queue. This is done by using pairs priority * 'a as elements.

      module Prio : OrderedType = ...

      module PrioQueue = Pqueue.MakeMinPoly(struct
        type 'a t = Prio.t * 'a
        let compare (p1, _) (p2, _) = Prio.compare p1 p2
      end)

      (* for example, we now have: *)
      PrioQueue.add: 'a PrioQueue.t -> Prio.t * 'a -> unit
      PrioQueue.min_elt: 'a PrioQueue.t -> (Prio.t * 'a) option
    
module type OrderedPolyType = sig .. end

Input signature of the functors Pqueue.MakeMinPoly and Pqueue.MakeMaxPoly.

module type MinPoly = sig .. end

Output signature of the functor Pqueue.MakeMinPoly.

module MakeMinPoly: 
functor (E : OrderedPolyType-> MinPoly with type 'a elt := 'a E.t

Functor building an implementation of min-priority queues given a totally ordered type for the elements.

module type MaxPoly = sig .. end

Output signature of the functor Pqueue.MakeMaxPoly.

module MakeMaxPoly: 
functor (E : OrderedPolyType-> MaxPoly with type 'a elt := 'a E.t

Functor building an implementation of max-priority queues given a totally ordered type for the elements.