A circular queue is a linear data structure, similar to a linear queue, but it uses a circular buffer to efficiently reuse empty slots when elements are dequeued.
Circular queues are often implemented using arrays or linked lists with wraparound logic.
What is a circular queue?
Circular Queue Operations
Circular Queue operations are the same as linear queues.
Enqueue
Adding an element to the back (also known as the rear or tail) of the queue.
Dequeue
Removing and returning the element from the front (also known as the head) of the queue.
Peek
Viewing the element at the front of the queue without removing it.
Which operation in a circular queue is responsible for adding an element?
Which operation in a circular queue is responsible for removing an element?
In a circular queue, which pointer indicates the front of the queue?
Circular Queue Interactive Demonstration
Front Rear:
What happens when a circular queue is full and we try to add an element?
Applications of Queues
Task scheduling
Circular queues are used in scheduling algorithms, such as the Round Robin scheduling algorithm in operating systems.
Printer spooling
Print jobs from multiple users can be spooled into a circular queue, and the printer can pull and print each job one by one from the queue.
Keyboard input buffer
In computer systems, keyboard input is often stored in a circular queue until it can be processed by the operating system or application.
Real-time systems
In real-time systems where data needs to be processed in a continuous loop, circular queues can help manage the flow of data
Circular Queue
In a queue, elements are added at the .
The process of adding elements to a queue is called .
