Data Structures and Algorithms · Trees

Heaps and priority queues

A tree-shaped structure that always keeps the smallest, or largest, element quick to find.

Also known as: binary heap, min-heap, max-heap, priority queue, heapsort.

Start a lesson on Heaps and priority queues

Learn first

• Binary trees: A hierarchical structure where each node has at most two children.

Leads to

• Dijkstra's algorithm: Finding the cheapest path from one vertex to all others when no edge weight is negative.
• Minimum spanning trees: The cheapest set of edges that connects every vertex with no cycles.

Related topics

• Dijkstra's algorithm: Finding the cheapest path from one vertex to all others when no edge weight is negative.
• Minimum spanning trees: The cheapest set of edges that connects every vertex with no cycles.
• Divide-and-conquer sorting: Divide-and-conquer sorts, merge sort and quicksort, that beat O(n squared) by splitting the problem.