Hands-On Data Structures and Algorithms with Python - Second Edition

Application of queues

Queues can be used to implement a variety of functionalities in many real computer-based applications. For instance, instead of providing each computer on a network with its own printer, a network of computers can be made to share one printer by queuing what each printer wants to print. When the printer is ready to print, it will pick one of the items (usually called jobs) in the queue to print out. It will print the command from the computer that has given the command first and in the order of the commands given by different computers.

Operating systems also queue processes to be executed by the CPU. Let's create an application that makes use of a queue to create a bare-bones media player.