Heap & Priority Queue — definition.
Definition
A data structure that returns the min or max in O(log n) per operation.
Complexity
Insert/pop O(log n); peek O(1); heapify O(n).
When to use it
- Top-K or k-th largest queries.
- Merge-K sorted streams.
- Scheduling the earliest-available resource.
Representative scenarios
- Leaderboard Live-Rank — top-k scores as events stream.
- Barista Rotation — next free barista among k.
- Multi-Feed Merger — k-way merge of sorted feeds.
Related patterns
Read the full pattern page: Heap & Priority Queue — template, code, and drills.
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