Difference between priority queue and a heap

Question

It seems that a priority queue is just a heap with normal queue operations like insert, delete, top, etc. Is this the correct way to interpret a priority queue? I know you can b

Answer 1

Having a class with exactly the interface you need (just insert and pop-max?) has its advantages.

• You can exchange the implementation (list instead of heap, for example) later.
• Someone reading the code that uses the queue doesn't need to understand the more difficult interface of the heap data structure.

I guess my question is whether having a collection of functions is equivalent to storing them in some class and using them through a class or just using the functions themselves.

It's mostly equivalent if you just think in terms of "how does my program behave". But it's not equivalent in terms of "how easy is my program to understand by a human reader"