A framework for constructing heap-like structures in-place

Abstract

Priority queues and double-ended priority queues are fundamental data types in computer science. Several implicit data structures have been proposed for implementing the queues, such as heaps, min-max heaps, deaps, and twin-heaps. Over the years the problem of constructing these heap-like structures has received much attention in the literature, but different structures possess different construction algorithms. In this paper, we present a uniform approach for building the heap-like data structures in-place. The study is carried out by investigating hardest instances of the problem and developing an algorithmic paradigm for the construction. Our paradigm produces comparison- and space-efficient construction algorithms for the heaplike structures, which improve over those previously fast known algorithms.