Heaptype

Heaptype is a term used in computer science to denote the category or configuration of a heap. It is not a formal standardized term, but appears in documentation and code as a label for either the heap variant or the memory allocation region in use.

In data structures, a heap is a nearly complete tree that satisfies the heap property. The type of heap is usually specified as min-heap or max-heap, and may refer to specific implementations such as binary heap, d-ary heap, Fibonacci heap, binomial heap, or pairing heap. The heap property ensures that in a min-heap every node is not greater than its children, while in a max-heap every node is not smaller than its children. The main operations include insert, peek (or top), extract-min or extract-max, decrease-key (or increase-key), and sometimes meld or merge. The choice of heap type affects both asymptotic performance and practical constants; for example, binary heaps support O(log n) insert and delete-root, while more advanced heaps offer different trade-offs for decrease-key or merge operations.

In software libraries, a heaptype parameter may select min- or max- behavior depending on a comparator or a type trait; some templates or generics expose this choice so the same interface can implement different heap variants.

In memory management, heaptype can describe the kind of heap allocator used, such as a process heap, a per-thread heap, or an arena/region-based allocator. These distinctions influence fragmentation, allocation speed, and lifetime management.

See also: heap data structure, priority queue, heap sort, and various heap variants and memory allocators.