Käsittelyjonot

Käsittelyjonot, known in English as processing queues or simply queues, are a fundamental data structure in computer science and operations research. They are a linear collection of elements that follow the First-In, First-Out (FIFO) principle, meaning the first element added to the queue is the first one to be removed. This is analogous to a queue of people waiting in line.

The basic operations performed on a queue are enqueue and dequeue. Enqueue adds an element to the rear (or tail) of the queue, while dequeue removes and returns the element from the front (or head) of the queue. Other common operations include peeking (viewing the front element without removing it) and checking if the queue is empty.

Queues are widely used in various applications. In operating systems, they manage tasks waiting for CPU time or I/O operations. Network routers use queues to buffer packets before transmitting them. In simulation systems, queues model waiting lines for resources. Many algorithms also leverage queues, such as breadth-first search in graph traversal.

Implementing a queue can be done using arrays or linked lists. An array-based implementation is efficient for a fixed-size queue, while a linked list is more flexible for dynamic sizes. The FIFO nature of queues makes them essential for managing sequential processes and ensuring fairness in resource allocation.