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Software Engineering vocabulary · Data Structures and Algorithms

Priority queue

Meaning in software engineering, with examples

nounCommon term

In software engineering, priority queue means: A collection that removes items according to their priority rather than simply in the order they arrived.

In Turkish: öncelik kuyruğu

How it is used

Used in schedulers and graph algorithms. Equal-priority ordering depends on the implementation.

Example sentences

  1. The scheduler uses a priority queue to select urgent jobs before routine backups.

    Urgency determines removal order even if the backup arrived earlier.

  2. We stored candidate paths in a priority queue ordered by their estimated cost.

    Priority here represents search cost rather than a business urgency label.

Common collocations

  • priority queue implementation
  • insert into a priority queue
  • heapA tree-based data structure with an ordering rule between parents and children, often used to retrieve the smallest or largest item efficiently.
  • queueA data structure where the first item added is the first one taken out (FIFO), like people waiting in line. Also a system that holds tasks or messages until they are processed.

More terms: Data Structures and Algorithms

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