Difference between "enqueue" and "dequeue"
Can somebody please explain the main differences? I don't have a clear knowledge about these functions in programming for any language.
Answer
Some of the basic data structures in programming languages such as C and C++ are stacks and queues.
The stack data structure follows the "First In Last Out" policy (FILO) where the first element inserted or "pushed" into a stack is the last element that is removed or "popped" from the stack.
Similarly, a queue data structure follows a "First In First Out" policy (as in the case of a normal queue when we stand in line at the counter), where the first element is pushed into the queue or "Enqueued" and the same element when it has to be removed from the queue is "Dequeued".
This is quite similar to push and pop in a stack, but the terms enqueue and dequeue avoid confusion as to whether the data structure in use is a stack or a queue.
Class coders has a simple program to demonstrate the enqueue and dequeue process. You could check it out for reference.
http://classcoders.blogspot.in/2012/01/enque-and-deque-in-c.html