C++ In a Nutshell

<queue>

The <queue> header declares the queue and priority_queue container adapters. These class templates are not containers in their own rights, but they adapt containers to present the behavior of a queue or priority queue.

A queue is a sequence of items that supports insertion at one end and removal from the other end. Because the first item inserted into a queue is the first item removed, a queue is sometimes called a FIFO (first-in, first-out) container.

Instead of preserving FIFO order, a priority queue maintains heap order, which ensures that the largest item is always first. In strict C++ terms, the first item in a priority queue is not less than any other item in the queue. This is called the “largest” item, but you can also think of it as the most important item or the one with the highest priority.

See Chapter 10 for information about containers.