queue interview questions
Top queue frequently asked interview questions
I have a Queue<T> object that I have initialised to a capacity of 2, but obviously that is just the capacity and it keeps expanding as I add items. Is there already an object that automatically dequeues an item when the limit is reached, or is the best solution to create my own inherited class?
Source: (StackOverflow)
- What messages could be stored in RabbitMQ queues? Only strings? Or can I select what type I want to store: int, binary, string etc.?
- What is the max size of one message?
- How many queues or exchanges could be created? Or does it depend on the server's power?
Thanks for your time.
Source: (StackOverflow)
Trying to use the TThreadedQueue (Generics.Collections) in a single producer multiple consumer scheme. (Delphi-XE).
The idea is to push objects into a queue and let several worker threads draining the queue.
It does not work as expected, though.
When two or more worker threads are calling PopItem, access violations are thrown from the TThreadedQueue.
If the call to PopItem is serialized with a critical section, all is fine.
Surely the TThreadedQueue should be able to handle multiple consumers, so am I missing something or is this a pure bug in TThreadedQueue ?
Here is a simple example to produce the error.
program TestThreadedQueue;
{$APPTYPE CONSOLE}
uses
// FastMM4 in '..\..\..\FastMM4\FastMM4.pas',
Windows,
Messages,
Classes,
SysUtils,
SyncObjs,
Generics.Collections;
type TThreadTaskMsg =
class(TObject)
private
threadID : integer;
threadMsg : string;
public
Constructor Create( ID : integer; const msg : string);
end;
type TThreadReader =
class(TThread)
private
fPopQueue : TThreadedQueue<TObject>;
fSync : TCriticalSection;
fMsg : TThreadTaskMsg;
fException : Exception;
procedure DoSync;
procedure DoHandleException;
public
Constructor Create( popQueue : TThreadedQueue<TObject>;
sync : TCriticalSection);
procedure Execute; override;
end;
Constructor TThreadReader.Create( popQueue : TThreadedQueue<TObject>;
sync : TCriticalSection);
begin
fPopQueue:= popQueue;
fMsg:= nil;
fSync:= sync;
Self.FreeOnTerminate:= FALSE;
fException:= nil;
Inherited Create( FALSE);
end;
procedure TThreadReader.DoSync ;
begin
WriteLn(fMsg.threadMsg + ' ' + IntToStr(fMsg.threadId));
end;
procedure TThreadReader.DoHandleException;
begin
WriteLn('Exception ->' + fException.Message);
end;
procedure TThreadReader.Execute;
var signal : TWaitResult;
begin
NameThreadForDebugging('QueuePop worker');
while not Terminated do
begin
try
{- Calling PopItem can return empty without waittime !? Let other threads in by sleeping. }
Sleep(20);
{- Serializing calls to PopItem works }
if Assigned(fSync) then fSync.Enter;
try
signal:= fPopQueue.PopItem( TObject(fMsg));
finally
if Assigned(fSync) then fSync.Release;
end;
if (signal = wrSignaled) then
begin
try
if Assigned(fMsg) then
begin
fMsg.threadMsg:= '<Thread id :' +IntToStr( Self.threadId) + '>';
fMsg.Free; // We are just dumping the message in this test
//Synchronize( Self.DoSync);
//PostMessage( fParentForm.Handle,WM_TestQueue_Message,Cardinal(fMsg),0);
end;
except
on E:Exception do begin
end;
end;
end;
except
FException:= Exception(ExceptObject);
try
if not (FException is EAbort) then
begin
{Synchronize(} DoHandleException; //);
end;
finally
FException:= nil;
end;
end;
end;
end;
Constructor TThreadTaskMsg.Create( ID : Integer; Const msg : string);
begin
Inherited Create;
threadID:= ID;
threadMsg:= msg;
end;
var
fSync : TCriticalSection;
fThreadQueue : TThreadedQueue<TObject>;
fReaderArr : array[1..4] of TThreadReader;
i : integer;
begin
try
IsMultiThread:= TRUE;
fSync:= TCriticalSection.Create;
fThreadQueue:= TThreadedQueue<TObject>.Create(1024,1,100);
try
{- Calling without fSync throws exceptions when two or more threads calls PopItem
at the same time }
WriteLn('Creating worker threads ...');
for i:= 1 to 4 do fReaderArr[i]:= TThreadReader.Create( fThreadQueue,Nil);
{- Calling with fSync works ! }
//for i:= 1 to 4 do fReaderArr[i]:= TThreadReader.Create( fThreadQueue,fSync);
WriteLn('Init done. Pushing items ...');
for i:= 1 to 100 do fThreadQueue.PushItem( TThreadTaskMsg.Create( i,''));
ReadLn;
finally
for i:= 1 to 4 do fReaderArr[i].Free;
fThreadQueue.Free;
fSync.Free;
end;
except
on E: Exception do
begin
Writeln(E.ClassName, ': ', E.Message);
ReadLn;
end;
end;
end.
Update : The error in TMonitor that caused TThreadedQueue to crash is fixed in Delphi XE2.
Update 2 : The above test stressed the queue in the empty state. Darian Miller found that stressing the queue at full state, still could reproduce the error in XE2. The error once again is in the TMonitor. See his answer below for more information. And also a link to the QC101114.
Update 3 :
With Delphi-XE2 update 4 there was an announced fix for TMonitor
that would cure the problems in TThreadedQueue
. My tests so far are not able to reproduce any errors in TThreadedQueue
anymore.
Tested single producer/multiple consumer threads when queue is empty and full.
Also tested multiple producers/multiple consumers. I varied the reader threads and writer threads from 1 to 100 without any glitch. But knowing the history, I dare others to break TMonitor
.
Source: (StackOverflow)
I need to iterate over a queue.
www.cplusplus.com says:
By default, if no container class is specified for a particular queue class, the standard container class template deque is used.
So can I somehow get to the queue's underlying deque and iterate over it?
Source: (StackOverflow)
I need a queue with a fixed size. When I add an element and the queue is full, it should automatically remove the oldest element.
Is there an existing implementation for this in Java?
Source: (StackOverflow)
I have a few queues running with RabbitMq. A few of them are of no use now, how can I delete them? Unfortunately I had not set the auto_delete
option.
If I set it now, will it be deleted?
Is there a way to delete those queues now?
Thanks!
Source: (StackOverflow)
When I try:
Queue<Integer> q = new Queue<Integer>();
the compiler is giving me an error. Any help?
Also, if I want to initialize a queue do I have to implement the methods of the queue?
Source: (StackOverflow)
What is the best way to implement a Stack and a Queue in JavaScript?
I'm looking to do the shunting-yard algorithm and I'm going to need these data-structures.
Source: (StackOverflow)
I want to use a queue data structure in my Objective-C program. In C++ I'd use the STL queue. What is the equivalent data structure in Objective-C? How do I push/pop items?
Source: (StackOverflow)
I have a scenario where I have multiple threads adding to a queue and multiple threads reading from the same queue. If the queue reaches a specific size all threads that are filling the queue will be blocked on add until an item is removed from the queue.
The solution below is what I am using right now and my question is: How can this be improved? Is there an object that already enables this behavior in the BCL that I should be using?
internal class BlockingCollection<T> : CollectionBase, IEnumerable
{
//todo: might be worth changing this into a proper QUEUE
private AutoResetEvent _FullEvent = new AutoResetEvent(false);
internal T this[int i]
{
get { return (T) List[i]; }
}
private int _MaxSize;
internal int MaxSize
{
get { return _MaxSize; }
set
{
_MaxSize = value;
checkSize();
}
}
internal BlockingCollection(int maxSize)
{
MaxSize = maxSize;
}
internal void Add(T item)
{
Trace.WriteLine(string.Format("BlockingCollection add waiting: {0}", Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId));
_FullEvent.WaitOne();
List.Add(item);
Trace.WriteLine(string.Format("BlockingCollection item added: {0}", Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId));
checkSize();
}
internal void Remove(T item)
{
lock (List)
{
List.Remove(item);
}
Trace.WriteLine(string.Format("BlockingCollection item removed: {0}", Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId));
}
protected override void OnRemoveComplete(int index, object value)
{
checkSize();
base.OnRemoveComplete(index, value);
}
internal new IEnumerator GetEnumerator()
{
return List.GetEnumerator();
}
private void checkSize()
{
if (Count < MaxSize)
{
Trace.WriteLine(string.Format("BlockingCollection FullEvent set: {0}", Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId));
_FullEvent.Set();
}
else
{
Trace.WriteLine(string.Format("BlockingCollection FullEvent reset: {0}", Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId));
_FullEvent.Reset();
}
}
}
Source: (StackOverflow)
A very simple & quick question on Java libraries: is there a ready-made class that implements a Queue
with a fixed maximum size - i.e. it always allows addition of elements, but it will silently remove head elements to accomodate space for newly added elements.
Of course, it's trivial to implement it manually:
import java.util.LinkedList;
public class LimitedQueue<E> extends LinkedList<E> {
private int limit;
public LimitedQueue(int limit) {
this.limit = limit;
}
@Override
public boolean add(E o) {
super.add(o);
while (size() > limit) { super.remove(); }
return true;
}
}
As far as I see, there's no standard implementation in Java stdlibs, but may be there's one in Apache Commons or something like that?
Source: (StackOverflow)
I need a queue which multiple threads can put stuff into, and multiple threads may read from.
Python has at least two queue classes, Queue.Queue and collections.deque, with the former seemingly using the latter internally. Both claim to be thread-safe in the documentation.
However, the Queue docs also state:
collections.deque is an alternative
implementation of unbounded queues
with fast atomic append() and
popleft() operations that do not
require locking.
Which I guess I don't quite unterstand: Does this mean deque isn't fully thread-safe after all?
If it is, I may not fully understand the difference between the two classes. I can see that Queue adds blocking functionality. On the other hand, it loses some deque features like support for the in-operator.
Accessing the internal deque object directly, is
x in Queue().deque
thread-safe?
Also, why does Queue employ a mutex for it's operations when deque is thread-safe already?
Source: (StackOverflow)
Can I traverse a standard priority_queue
or standard queue
in c++ with an iterator (like a vector
)? I don't want to use pop because it cause my queue to be dequeued.
Thanks for any help
Source: (StackOverflow)
I work on a somewhat large web application, and the backend is mostly in PHP. There are several places in the code where I need to complete some task, but I don't want to make the user wait for the result. For example, when creating a new account, I need to send them a welcome email. But when they hit the 'Finish Registration' button, I don't want to make them wait until the email is actually sent, I just want to start the process, and return a message to the user right away.
Up until now, in some places I've been using what feels like a hack with exec(). Basically doing things like:
exec("doTask.php $arg1 $arg2 $arg3 >/dev/null 2>&1 &");
Which appears to work, but I'm wondering if there's a better way. I'm considering writing a system which queues up tasks in a MySQL table, and a separate long-running PHP script that queries that table once a second, and executes any new tasks it finds. This would also have the advantage of letting me split the tasks among several worker machines in the future if I needed to.
Am I re-inventing the wheel? Is there a better solution than the exec() hack or the MySQL queue?
Source: (StackOverflow)