I am looking for a .NET implementation of a priority queue or heap data structure
Priority queues are data structures that provide more flexibility than simple sorting, because they allow new elements to enter a system at arbitrary intervals. It is much more cost-effective to insert a new job into a priority queue than to re-sort everything on each such arrival.
The basic priority queue supports three primary operations:
- Insert(Q,x). Given an item x with key k, insert it into the priority queue Q.
- Find-Minimum(Q). Return a pointer to the item whose key value is smaller than any other key in the priority queue Q.
- Delete-Minimum(Q). Remove the item from the priority queue Q whose key is minimum
Unless I am looking in the wrong place, there isn't one in the framework. Is anyone aware of a good one, or should I roll my own?
14 Answers
You might like IntervalHeap from the C5 Generic Collection Library. To quote the user guide
Class
IntervalHeap<T>implements interfaceIPriorityQueue<T>using an interval heap stored as an array of pairs. TheFindMinandFindMaxoperations, and the indexer’s get-accessor, take time O(1). TheDeleteMin,DeleteMax, Add and Update operations, and the indexer’s set-accessor, take time O(log n). In contrast to an ordinary priority queue, an interval heap offers both minimum and maximum operations with the same efficiency.
The API is simple enough
> var heap = new C5.IntervalHeap<int>();
> heap.Add(10);
> heap.Add(5);
> heap.FindMin();
5
Install from Nuget or GitHub
Here's my attempt at a .NET heap
public abstract class Heap<T> : IEnumerable<T>
{
private const int InitialCapacity = 0;
private const int GrowFactor = 2;
private const int MinGrow = 1;
private int _capacity = InitialCapacity;
private T[] _heap = new T[InitialCapacity];
private int _tail = 0;
public int Count { get { return _tail; } }
public int Capacity { get { return _capacity; } }
protected Comparer<T> Comparer { get; private set; }
protected abstract bool Dominates(T x, T y);
protected Heap() : this(Comparer<T>.Default)
{
}
protected Heap(Comparer<T> comparer) : this(Enumerable.Empty<T>(), comparer)
{
}
protected Heap(IEnumerable<T> collection)
: this(collection, Comparer<T>.Default)
{
}
protected Heap(IEnumerable<T> collection, Comparer<T> comparer)
{
if (collection == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("collection");
if (comparer == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("comparer");
Comparer = comparer;
foreach (var item in collection)
{
if (Count == Capacity)
Grow();
_heap[_tail++] = item;
}
for (int i = Parent(_tail - 1); i >= 0; i--)
BubbleDown(i);
}
public void Add(T item)
{
if (Count == Capacity)
Grow();
_heap[_tail++] = item;
BubbleUp(_tail - 1);
}
private void BubbleUp(int i)
{
if (i == 0 || Dominates(_heap[Parent(i)], _heap[i]))
return; //correct domination (or root)
Swap(i, Parent(i));
BubbleUp(Parent(i));
}
public T GetMin()
{
if (Count == 0) throw new InvalidOperationException("Heap is empty");
return _heap[0];
}
public T ExtractDominating()
{
if (Count == 0) throw new InvalidOperationException("Heap is empty");
T ret = _heap[0];
_tail--;
Swap(_tail, 0);
BubbleDown(0);
return ret;
}
private void BubbleDown(int i)
{
int dominatingNode = Dominating(i);
if (dominatingNode == i) return;
Swap(i, dominatingNode);
BubbleDown(dominatingNode);
}
private int Dominating(int i)
{
int dominatingNode = i;
dominatingNode = GetDominating(YoungChild(i), dominatingNode);
dominatingNode = GetDominating(OldChild(i), dominatingNode);
return dominatingNode;
}
private int GetDominating(int newNode, int dominatingNode)
{
if (newNode < _tail && !Dominates(_heap[dominatingNode], _heap[newNode]))
return newNode;
else
return dominatingNode;
}
private void Swap(int i, int j)
{
T tmp = _heap[i];
_heap[i] = _heap[j];
_heap[j] = tmp;
}
private static int Parent(int i)
{
return (i + 1)/2 - 1;
}
private static int YoungChild(int i)
{
return (i + 1)*2 - 1;
}
private static int OldChild(int i)
{
return YoungChild(i) + 1;
}
private void Grow()
{
int newCapacity = _capacity*GrowFactor + MinGrow;
var newHeap = new T[newCapacity];
Array.Copy(_heap, newHeap, _capacity);
_heap = newHeap;
_capacity = newCapacity;
}
public IEnumerator<T> GetEnumerator()
{
return _heap.Take(Count).GetEnumerator();
}
IEnumerator IEnumerable.GetEnumerator()
{
return GetEnumerator();
}
}
public class MaxHeap<T> : Heap<T>
{
public MaxHeap()
: this(Comparer<T>.Default)
{
}
public MaxHeap(Comparer<T> comparer)
: base(comparer)
{
}
public MaxHeap(IEnumerable<T> collection, Comparer<T> comparer)
: base(collection, comparer)
{
}
public MaxHeap(IEnumerable<T> collection) : base(collection)
{
}
protected override bool Dominates(T x, T y)
{
return Comparer.Compare(x, y) >= 0;
}
}
public class MinHeap<T> : Heap<T>
{
public MinHeap()
: this(Comparer<T>.Default)
{
}
public MinHeap(Comparer<T> comparer)
: base(comparer)
{
}
public MinHeap(IEnumerable<T> collection) : base(collection)
{
}
public MinHeap(IEnumerable<T> collection, Comparer<T> comparer)
: base(collection, comparer)
{
}
protected override bool Dominates(T x, T y)
{
return Comparer.Compare(x, y) <= 0;
}
}
Some tests:
[TestClass]
public class HeapTests
{
[TestMethod]
public void TestHeapBySorting()
{
var minHeap = new MinHeap<int>(new[] {9, 8, 4, 1, 6, 2, 7, 4, 1, 2});
AssertHeapSort(minHeap, minHeap.OrderBy(i => i).ToArray());
minHeap = new MinHeap<int> { 7, 5, 1, 6, 3, 2, 4, 1, 2, 1, 3, 4, 7 };
AssertHeapSort(minHeap, minHeap.OrderBy(i => i).ToArray());
var maxHeap = new MaxHeap<int>(new[] {1, 5, 3, 2, 7, 56, 3, 1, 23, 5, 2, 1});
AssertHeapSort(maxHeap, maxHeap.OrderBy(d => -d).ToArray());
maxHeap = new MaxHeap<int> {2, 6, 1, 3, 56, 1, 4, 7, 8, 23, 4, 5, 7, 34, 1, 4};
AssertHeapSort(maxHeap, maxHeap.OrderBy(d => -d).ToArray());
}
private static void AssertHeapSort(Heap<int> heap, IEnumerable<int> expected)
{
var sorted = new List<int>();
while (heap.Count > 0)
sorted.Add(heap.ExtractDominating());
Assert.IsTrue(sorted.SequenceEqual(expected));
}
}
I like using the OrderedBag and OrderedSet classes in PowerCollections as priority queues.
here's one i just wrote, maybe it's not as optimized (just uses a sorted dictionary) but simple to understand. you can insert objects of different kinds, so no generic queues.
using System;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
namespace PrioQueue
{
public class PrioQueue
{
int total_size;
SortedDictionary<int, Queue> storage;
public PrioQueue ()
{
this.storage = new SortedDictionary<int, Queue> ();
this.total_size = 0;
}
public bool IsEmpty ()
{
return (total_size == 0);
}
public object Dequeue ()
{
if (IsEmpty ()) {
throw new Exception ("Please check that priorityQueue is not empty before dequeing");
} else
foreach (Queue q in storage.Values) {
// we use a sorted dictionary
if (q.Count > 0) {
total_size--;
return q.Dequeue ();
}
}
Debug.Assert(false,"not supposed to reach here. problem with changing total_size");
return null; // not supposed to reach here.
}
// same as above, except for peek.
public object Peek ()
{
if (IsEmpty ())
throw new Exception ("Please check that priorityQueue is not empty before peeking");
else
foreach (Queue q in storage.Values) {
if (q.Count > 0)
return q.Peek ();
}
Debug.Assert(false,"not supposed to reach here. problem with changing total_size");
return null; // not supposed to reach here.
}
public object Dequeue (int prio)
{
total_size--;
return storage[prio].Dequeue ();
}
public void Enqueue (object item, int prio)
{
if (!storage.ContainsKey (prio)) {
storage.Add (prio, new Queue ());
}
storage[prio].Enqueue (item);
total_size++;
}
}
}
.NET 6+: As @rustyx commented, .NET 6 adds a System.Collections.Generic.PriorityQueue<TElement,TPriority> class. And FWIW it is open-source and implemented in c#.
Earlier .NET Core versions and .NET Framework: Microsoft has written (and shared online) 2 internal PriorityQueue classes within the .NET Framework. However, as @mathusum-mut commented, there is a bug in one of them (the SO community has, of course, provided fixes for it): Bug in Microsoft's internal PriorityQueue<T>?
I found one by Julian Bucknall on his blog here -
We modified it slightly so that low-priority items on the queue would eventually 'bubble-up' to the top over time, so they wouldn't suffer starvation.
class PriorityQueue<T>
{
IComparer<T> comparer;
T[] heap;
public int Count { get; private set; }
public PriorityQueue() : this(null) { }
public PriorityQueue(int capacity) : this(capacity, null) { }
public PriorityQueue(IComparer<T> comparer) : this(16, comparer) { }
public PriorityQueue(int capacity, IComparer<T> comparer)
{
this.comparer = (comparer == null) ? Comparer<T>.Default : comparer;
this.heap = new T[capacity];
}
public void push(T v)
{
if (Count >= heap.Length) Array.Resize(ref heap, Count * 2);
heap[Count] = v;
SiftUp(Count++);
}
public T pop()
{
var v = top();
heap[0] = heap[--Count];
if (Count > 0) SiftDown(0);
return v;
}
public T top()
{
if (Count > 0) return heap[0];
throw new InvalidOperationException("优先队列为空");
}
void SiftUp(int n)
{
var v = heap[n];
for (var n2 = n / 2; n > 0 && comparer.Compare(v, heap[n2]) > 0; n = n2, n2 /= 2) heap[n] = heap[n2];
heap[n] = v;
}
void SiftDown(int n)
{
var v = heap[n];
for (var n2 = n * 2; n2 < Count; n = n2, n2 *= 2)
{
if (n2 + 1 < Count && comparer.Compare(heap[n2 + 1], heap[n2]) > 0) n2++;
if (comparer.Compare(v, heap[n2]) >= 0) break;
heap[n] = heap[n2];
}
heap[n] = v;
}
}
easy.
You may find useful this implementation:
it is generic and based on heap data structure