Difference between priority queue and a heap

Question

It seems that a priority queue is just a heap with normal queue operations like insert, delete, top, etc. Is this the correct way to interpret a priority queue? I know you can build priority queues in different ways but if I were to build a priority queue from a heap is it necessary to create a priority queue class and give instructions for building a heap and the queue operations or is it not really necessary to build the class?

What I mean is if I have a function to build a heap and functions to do operations like insert, delete, do I need to put all these functions in a class or can I just use the instructions by calling them in main.

I guess my question is whether having a collection of functions is equivalent to storing them in some class and using them through a class or just using the functions themselves.

What I have below is all the methods for a priority queue implementation. Is this sufficient to call it an implementation or do I need to put it in a designated priority queue class?

#ifndef MAX_PRIORITYQ_H
#define MAX_PRIORITYQ_H
#include <iostream>
#include <deque>
#include "print.h"
#include "random.h"

int parent(int i)
{
    return (i - 1) / 2;
}

int left(int i)
{
    if(i == 0)
        return 1;
    else
        return 2*i;
}

int right(int i)
{
    if(i == 0)
        return 2;
    else
        return 2*i + 1;
}

void max_heapify(std::deque<int> &A, int i, int heapsize)
{
    int largest;
    int l = left(i);
    int r = right(i);
    if(l <= heapsize && A[l] > A[i])
        largest = l;
    else
        largest = i;
    if(r <= heapsize && A[r] > A[largest])
        largest = r;
    if(largest != i) {
        exchange(A, i, largest);
        max_heapify(A, largest, heapsize);
        //int j = max_heapify(A, largest, heapsize);
        //return j;
    }
    //return i;
}

void build_max_heap(std::deque<int> &A)
{
    int heapsize = A.size() - 1;
    for(int i = (A.size() - 1) / 2; i >= 0; i--)
        max_heapify(A, i, heapsize);
}

int heap_maximum(std::deque<int> &A)
{
    return A[0];
}

int heap_extract_max(std::deque<int> &A, int heapsize)
{
    if(heapsize < 0)
        throw std::out_of_range("heap underflow");
    int max = A.front();
    //std::cout << "heapsize : " << heapsize << std::endl;
    A[0] = A[--heapsize];
    A.pop_back();
    max_heapify(A, 0, heapsize);
    //int i = max_heapify(A, 0, heapsize);
    //A.erase(A.begin() + i);
    return max;
}

void heap_increase_key(std::deque<int> &A, int i, int key)
{
    if(key < A[i])
        std::cerr << "New key is smaller than current key" << std::endl;
    else {
        A[i] = key;
        while(i > 1 && A[parent(i)] < A[i]) {
            exchange(A, i, parent(i));
            i = parent(i);
        }
    }
}

void max_heap_insert(std::deque<int> &A, int key)
{
    int heapsize =  A.size();
    A[heapsize] = std::numeric_limits<int>::min();
    heap_increase_key(A, heapsize, key);
}

Answer 1

A priority queue is an abstract datatype. It is a shorthand way of describing a particular interface and behavior, and says nothing about the underlying implementation.

A heap is a data structure. It is a name for a particular way of storing data that makes certain operations very efficient.

It just so happens that a heap is a very good data structure to implement a priority queue, because the operations which are made efficient by the heap data strucure are the operations that the priority queue interface needs.