Binary Heap

Lua implementation of priority queue data structure using binary heap. There are 4 modules: BinaryMinHeap, BinaryMaxHeap, IndirectBinaryMinHeap and IndirectBinaryMaxHeap. Min and Max implementations differ only in ordering. Indirect heaps offer efficient removal and updating priority operations.

BinaryHeap.new( [iparray] )

Create new binary heap. You can pass iparray to initialize heap with O(n) complexity (implemented with batchenq, see below).

local heap = BinaryHeap.new()

local heap = BinaryHeap()

local security = BinaryHeap{ 
	'high', 1, 
	'low', 10, 
	'moderate', 5, 
	'moderate-', 7, 
	'moderate+', 3}

enqueue( item, priority )

Enqueue the item with the priority to the heap. The priority must be comparable, i.e. it must be either number or string or a table with metatable with __lt metamethod defined. Time complexity is O(logn).

dequeue()

Dequeue from the heap. Returns item and associated priority. If the heap is empty then an error will raise. Returns an item with minimal priority for BinaryMinHeap(maximal for BinaryMaxHeap). Time complexity is O(logn).

peek()

Returns the item with minimal priority and priority itself for BinaryMinHeap(maximal for BinaryMaxHeap) or nil if the heap is empty.

len()

Returns items count. Also you can use # operator for the same effect.

empty()

Returns true if the heap has no items and false otherwise.

batchenq( iparray )

Efficiently enqueues list of item-priority pairs into the heap. Note that this is efficient only when the amount of inserting elements greater or equal than the current length. Time complexity of this operation in O(n) while sequential approach is O(nlogn).

contains( item )

Checking that heap contains the item. This operation is O(n) for direct binary heaps.

remove( item )

Removes the item from the heap. Returns true if item was in the heap and false otherwise. This operation is O(n) for direct binary heaps.

update( item, priority )

Changes item priority. Returns true if item was in the heap (even if priority not changed) and false otherwise. This operation is O(n) for direct binary heaps, internally it's just remove followed by enqueue.

Indirect Binary Heap

If you need to change priority or remove specific item from the heap efficiently you should use this implementation. It's slighthly slower and consumes more memory than direct approach, but allows fast removal and updating priorities by saving the indices of the elements in the heap. Note that this implementations doesn't allow repeating items. It has the same methods, but has some differences in their behavior:

enqueue( item, priority )

Same as BinaryHeap.enqueue but you are not allowed to enqueue the same items and if the heap already contains the item then error is thrown.

batchenq( iparray )

Same as BinaryHeap.batchenq but you are not allowed to enqueue the same items. If the same items are in the iparray then error is thrown.

contains( item )

Has O(1) performance.

remove( item )

Has O(logn) performance.

update( item, priority )

Has O(logn) performance.