In computer science, a priority queue is an abstract data type similar to a regular queue or stack abstract data type. Each element in a priority queue has an associated priority. In a priority queue, elements with high priority are served before elements with low priority. In some implementations, if two elements have the same priority, they are served in the same order in which they were enqueued. In other implementations, the order of elements with the same priority is undefined.
While priority queues are often implemented using heaps, they are conceptually distinct from heaps. A priority queue is an abstract data type like a list or a map; just as a list can be implemented with a linked list or with an array, a priority queue can be implemented with a heap or another method such as an ordered array.