Implementing a Queue using Arrays
A queue is a First-In-First-Out (FIFO) data structure. Here's how to implement a queue
using an array:
1. Array Declaration:
○ Declare an array of a specific data type to hold the queue elements.
○ Define two integer variables:
■ front: To keep track of the index of the front element in the queue.
■ rear: To keep track of the index of the rear element in the queue.
2. Initialization:
○ Initialize front and rear to -1. This indicates that the queue is initially empty.
Operations:
1. Add (Enqueue):
* Check if the queue is full (i.e., if rear is equal to the maximum size of the array minus 1). If it
is, report a queue overflow error.
* If the queue is not full:
* If the queue is empty (both front and rear are -1), set both front and rear to 0.
* Otherwise, increment rear by 1.
* Store the new element at the array index indicated by rear.
2. Edit (Modify):
* To edit an element at a specific position in the queue, you need to know the index of the
element within the queue. Since queues are designed for FIFO access, directly editing an
arbitrary element is not a standard queue operation. However, if you have the index, you can
modify the array element directly.
* Check if the given index is valid (i.e., within the range of front to rear). If it is not, report an
error (e.g., "Invalid index").
* If the index is valid, modify the element at that index in the array.
3. Delete (Dequeue):
* Check if the queue is empty (i.e., if front is equal to -1). If it is, report a queue underflow
error.
* If the queue is not empty:
* Retrieve the element at the array index indicated by front.
* If front and rear are equal (meaning there was only one element in the queue), set both front
and rear to -1 to indicate an empty queue.
* Otherwise, increment front by 1.