Array implementation of queue Simple (original) (raw)

Last Updated : 12 Mar, 2025

Please note that a simple array implementation discussed here is not used in practice as it is not efficient. In practice, we either use Linked List Implementation of Queue or circular array implementation of queue. The idea of this post is to give you a background as to why we need a circular array implementation.

The queue uses an array with a fixed capacity, referred to as capacity, and tracks the current number of elements with a variable size.
The variable front is initialized to 0 and represents the index of the first element in the array. In the dequeue operation, the element at this index is removed.

To implement a queue of size n using an array, the operations are as follows:

**Enqueue: Adds new elements to the **end of the queue. Checks if the queue has space before insertion, then increments the size.
**Dequeue: Removes the front element by shifting all remaining elements **one position to the left. Decrements the queue size after removal.
**getFront: Returns the first element of the queue if it's not empty. **Returns -1 if the queue is empty.
**Display: Iterates through the queue from the front to the current size and prints each element. C++ `

#include #include using namespace std;

class Queue { vector q;

public: bool isEmpty() { return q.empty(); }

void enqueue(int x) {
    q.push_back(x);
}

void dequeue() {
    if (!isEmpty()) q.erase(q.begin());
}

int getFront() {
    return isEmpty() ? -1 : q.front();
}

void display() {
    for (int x : q) cout << x << " ";
    cout << "\n";
}

};

int main() { Queue q; q.enqueue(1); q.enqueue(2); q.enqueue(3); cout << q.getFront() << endl; q.dequeue(); q.enqueue(4); q.display(); }

C

#include <stdio.h> #include <stdlib.h>

struct Queue { int *arr; int front; int rear; int capacity; };

struct Queue* createQueue(int capacity) { struct Queue* queue = (struct Queue*)malloc(sizeof(struct Queue)); queue->capacity = capacity; queue->front = 0; queue->rear = -1; queue->arr = (int*)malloc(capacity * sizeof(int)); return queue; }

int isEmpty(struct Queue* queue) { return queue->front > queue->rear; }

void enqueue(struct Queue* queue, int x) { if (queue->rear < queue->capacity - 1) { queue->arr[++queue->rear] = x; } }

void dequeue(struct Queue* queue) { if (!isEmpty(queue)) { queue->front++; } }

int getFront(struct Queue* queue) { return isEmpty(queue) ? -1 : queue->arr[queue->front]; }

void display(struct Queue* queue) { for (int i = queue->front; i <= queue->rear; i++) { printf("%d ", queue->arr[i]); } printf("\n"); }

int main() { struct Queue* q = createQueue(100); enqueue(q, 1); enqueue(q, 2); enqueue(q, 3); printf("%d\n", getFront(q)); dequeue(q); enqueue(q, 4); display(q); return 0; }

Java

// Java implementation of Queue import java.util.LinkedList; import java.util.Queue;

class MyQueue { private Queue q = new LinkedList<>();

public boolean isEmpty() { return q.isEmpty(); }

public void enqueue(int x) { q.add(x); }

public void dequeue() { if (!isEmpty()) q.poll(); }

public int getFront() { return isEmpty() ? -1 : q.peek(); }

public void display() { for (int x : q) System.out.print(x + " "); System.out.println(); }

}

public class Main { public static void main(String[] args) { MyQueue q = new MyQueue(); q.enqueue(1); q.enqueue(2); q.enqueue(3); System.out.println(q.getFront()); q.dequeue(); q.enqueue(4); q.display(); } }

Python

Python implementation of Queue

class Queue: def init(self): self.q = []

def is_empty(self):
    return len(self.q) == 0

def enqueue(self, x):
    self.q.append(x)

def dequeue(self):
    if not self.is_empty():
        self.q.pop(0)

def get_front(self):
    return -1 if self.is_empty() else self.q[0]

def display(self):
    print(' '.join(map(str, self.q)))

if name == 'main': q = Queue() q.enqueue(1) q.enqueue(2) q.enqueue(3) print(q.get_front()) q.dequeue() q.enqueue(4) q.display()

C#

// C# implementation of Queue using System; using System.Collections.Generic;

class Queue { private List q = new List();

public bool IsEmpty() { return q.Count == 0; }

public void Enqueue(int x) { q.Add(x); }

public void Dequeue() { if (!IsEmpty()) q.RemoveAt(0); }

public int GetFront() { return IsEmpty() ? -1 : q[0]; }

public void Display() { Console.WriteLine(string.Join(" ", q)); }

}

class Program { static void Main() { Queue q = new Queue(); q.Enqueue(1); q.Enqueue(2); q.Enqueue(3); Console.WriteLine(q.GetFront()); q.Dequeue(); q.Enqueue(4); q.Display(); } }

JavaScript

class Queue { constructor() { this.q = []; }

isEmpty() {
    return this.q.length === 0;
}

enqueue(x) {
    this.q.push(x);
}

dequeue() {
    if (!this.isEmpty()) this.q.shift();
}

getFront() {
    return this.isEmpty() ? -1 : this.q[0];
}

display() {
    console.log(this.q.join(' '));
}

}

const q = new Queue(); q.enqueue(1); q.enqueue(2); q.enqueue(3); console.log(q.getFront()); q.dequeue(); q.enqueue(4); q.display();

**Time Complexity: O(1) for Enqueue (element insertion in the queue) as we simply increment pointer and put value in array, O(n) for Dequeue (element removing from the queue).
**Auxiliary Space: O(n), as here we are using an n size array for implementing Queue

We can notice that the Dequeue operation is O(n) which is not acceptable. The enqueue and dequeue both operations should have O(1) time complexity. That is why if we wish to implement a queue using array (because of array advantages like cache friendliness and random access), we do**circular array implementation of queue****.**