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The ACM Journal of Experimental Algorithmics


Volume 5, Article 17, 2000


An Experimental Study of Priority Queues in External Memory

by

Klaus Brengel

and

Andreas Crauser

and

Paolo Ferragina

and

Ulrich Meyer

http://www.jea.acm.org/2000/BrengelPriority/


Abstract:

In this paper we compare the performance of eight different priority queue implementations: four of them are explicitly designed to work in an external-memory setting, whereas the others are standard internal-memory queues available in the LEDA library. Two of the external-memory priority queues are obtained by engineering known internal-memory priority queues with the aim of achieving effective performances on external storage devices (i.e., Radix heaps and array heaps). Our experimental framework includes some simple tests, like random sequences of insert or delete-minimum operations, as well more advanced tests consisting of intermixed sequences of update operations and "application driven" update sequences originated by simulations of Dijkstra's algorithm on large graph instances. Our variegated spectrum of experimental results gives a good picture of the features of these priority queues, thus being helpful to anyone interested in the use of such data structures on very large data sets.

Received
Accepted
Final Revision
Published




Last updated and validated October 11, 2001, by editor@jea.acm.org

Last updated and validated October 11, 2001, by editor@jea.acm.org