Interface Heap

src/main/java/com/thealgorithms/datastructures/heaps/Heap.java:21–44

Interface common to heap data structures. Heaps are tree-like data structures that allow storing elements in a specific way. Each node corresponds to an element and has one parent node (except for the root) and at most two children nodes. Every element contains a key, and those keys indicat

 * @author Nicolas Renard
 */
public interface Heap {
    /**
     * @return the top element in the heap, the one with lowest key for min-heap
     * or with the highest key for max-heap
     * @throws EmptyHeapException if heap is empty
     */
    HeapElement getElement() throws EmptyHeapException;

    /**
     * Inserts an element in the heap. Adds it to then end and toggle it until
     * it finds its right position.
     *
     * @param element an instance of the HeapElement class.
     */
    void insertElement(HeapElement element);

    /**
     * Delete an element in the heap.
     *
     * @param elementIndex int containing the position in the heap of the
     * element to be deleted.
     */
    void deleteElement(int elementIndex) throws EmptyHeapException;
}