https://openjdk.java.net/ 
/*
 * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
 *
 * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
 * under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 only, as
 * published by the Free Software Foundation.  Oracle designates this
 * particular file as subject to the "Classpath" exception as provided
 * by Oracle in the LICENSE file that accompanied this code.
 *
 * This code is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
 * ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
 * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License
 * version 2 for more details (a copy is included in the LICENSE file that
 * accompanied this code).
 *
 * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License version
 * 2 along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
 * Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
 *
 * Please contact Oracle, 500 Oracle Parkway, Redwood Shores, CA 94065 USA
 * or visit www.oracle.com if you need additional information or have any
 * questions.
 */

/*
 * This file is available under and governed by the GNU General Public
 * License version 2 only, as published by the Free Software Foundation.
 * However, the following notice accompanied the original version of this
 * file:
 *
 * Written by Doug Lea with assistance from members of JCP JSR-166
 * Expert Group and released to the public domain, as explained at
 * http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
 */

package java.util;


A collection designed for holding elements prior to processing. Besides basic Collection operations, queues provide additional insertion, extraction, and inspection operations. Each of these methods exists in two forms: one throws an exception if the operation fails, the other returns a special value (either null or false, depending on the operation). The latter form of the insert operation is designed specifically for use with capacity-restricted Queue implementations; in most implementations, insert operations cannot fail. 

Summary of Queue methods
 
 

   
   Throws exception
   Returns special value
 

 
 
 

   Insert
   add(e)
   offer(e)
 

 

   Remove
   remove()
   poll()
 

 

   Examine
   element()
   peek()
 

 



Queues typically, but do not necessarily, order elements in a
FIFO (first-in-first-out) manner.  Among the exceptions are
priority queues, which order elements according to a supplied
comparator, or the elements' natural ordering, and LIFO queues (or
stacks) which order the elements LIFO (last-in-first-out).
Whatever the ordering used, the head of the queue is that element which would be removed by a call to remove() or poll(). In a FIFO queue, all new elements are inserted at the tail of the queue. Other kinds of queues may use different placement rules. Every Queue implementation must specify its ordering properties. 
The offer method inserts an element if possible, otherwise returning false. This differs from the Collection.add method, which can fail to add an element only by throwing an unchecked exception. The offer method is designed for use when failure is a normal, rather than exceptional occurrence, for example, in fixed-capacity (or "bounded") queues. 
The remove() and poll() methods remove and return the head of the queue. Exactly which element is removed from the queue is a function of the queue's ordering policy, which differs from implementation to implementation. The remove() and poll() methods differ only in their behavior when the queue is empty: the remove() method throws an exception, while the poll() method returns null. 
The element() and peek() methods return, but do not remove, the head of the queue. 
The Queue interface does not define the blocking queue
methods, which are common in concurrent programming. These methods, which wait for elements to appear or for space to become available, are defined in the BlockingQueue interface, which extends this interface. 
Queue implementations generally do not allow insertion of null elements, although some implementations, such as LinkedList, do not prohibit insertion of null. Even in the implementations that permit it, null should not be inserted into a Queue, as null is also used as a special return value by the poll method to indicate that the queue contains no elements. 
Queue implementations generally do not define element-based versions of methods equals and hashCode but instead inherit the identity based versions from class Object, because element-based equality is not always well-defined for queues with the same elements but different ordering properties. 
This interface is a member of the

Java Collections Framework.

Author:Doug Lea
Type parameters:
  • <E> – the type of elements held in this queue
Since:1.5
/**
 * A collection designed for holding elements prior to processing.
 * Besides basic {@link Collection} operations, queues provide
 * additional insertion, extraction, and inspection operations.
 * Each of these methods exists in two forms: one throws an exception
 * if the operation fails, the other returns a special value (either
 * {@code null} or {@code false}, depending on the operation).  The
 * latter form of the insert operation is designed specifically for
 * use with capacity-restricted {@code Queue} implementations; in most
 * implementations, insert operations cannot fail.
 *
 * <table class="striped">
 * <caption>Summary of Queue methods</caption>
 *  <thead>
 *  <tr>
 *    <td></td>
 *    <th scope="col" style="font-weight:normal; font-style:italic">Throws exception</th>
 *    <th scope="col" style="font-weight:normal; font-style:italic">Returns special value</th>
 *  </tr>
 *  </thead>
 *  <tbody>
 *  <tr>
 *    <th scope="row">Insert</th>
 *    <td>{@link #add(Object) add(e)}</td>
 *    <td>{@link #offer(Object) offer(e)}</td>
 *  </tr>
 *  <tr>
 *    <th scope="row">Remove</th>
 *    <td>{@link #remove() remove()}</td>
 *    <td>{@link #poll() poll()}</td>
 *  </tr>
 *  <tr>
 *    <th scope="row">Examine</th>
 *    <td>{@link #element() element()}</td>
 *    <td>{@link #peek() peek()}</td>
 *  </tr>
 *  </tbody>
 * </table>
 *
 * <p>Queues typically, but do not necessarily, order elements in a
 * FIFO (first-in-first-out) manner.  Among the exceptions are
 * priority queues, which order elements according to a supplied
 * comparator, or the elements' natural ordering, and LIFO queues (or
 * stacks) which order the elements LIFO (last-in-first-out).
 * Whatever the ordering used, the <em>head</em> of the queue is that
 * element which would be removed by a call to {@link #remove()} or
 * {@link #poll()}.  In a FIFO queue, all new elements are inserted at
 * the <em>tail</em> of the queue. Other kinds of queues may use
 * different placement rules.  Every {@code Queue} implementation
 * must specify its ordering properties.
 *
 * <p>The {@link #offer offer} method inserts an element if possible,
 * otherwise returning {@code false}.  This differs from the {@link
 * java.util.Collection#add Collection.add} method, which can fail to
 * add an element only by throwing an unchecked exception.  The
 * {@code offer} method is designed for use when failure is a normal,
 * rather than exceptional occurrence, for example, in fixed-capacity
 * (or &quot;bounded&quot;) queues.
 *
 * <p>The {@link #remove()} and {@link #poll()} methods remove and
 * return the head of the queue.
 * Exactly which element is removed from the queue is a
 * function of the queue's ordering policy, which differs from
 * implementation to implementation. The {@code remove()} and
 * {@code poll()} methods differ only in their behavior when the
 * queue is empty: the {@code remove()} method throws an exception,
 * while the {@code poll()} method returns {@code null}.
 *
 * <p>The {@link #element()} and {@link #peek()} methods return, but do
 * not remove, the head of the queue.
 *
 * <p>The {@code Queue} interface does not define the <i>blocking queue
 * methods</i>, which are common in concurrent programming.  These methods,
 * which wait for elements to appear or for space to become available, are
 * defined in the {@link java.util.concurrent.BlockingQueue} interface, which
 * extends this interface.
 *
 * <p>{@code Queue} implementations generally do not allow insertion
 * of {@code null} elements, although some implementations, such as
 * {@link LinkedList}, do not prohibit insertion of {@code null}.
 * Even in the implementations that permit it, {@code null} should
 * not be inserted into a {@code Queue}, as {@code null} is also
 * used as a special return value by the {@code poll} method to
 * indicate that the queue contains no elements.
 *
 * <p>{@code Queue} implementations generally do not define
 * element-based versions of methods {@code equals} and
 * {@code hashCode} but instead inherit the identity based versions
 * from class {@code Object}, because element-based equality is not
 * always well-defined for queues with the same elements but different
 * ordering properties.
 *
 * <p>This interface is a member of the
 * <a href="{@docRoot}/java.base/java/util/package-summary.html#CollectionsFramework">
 * Java Collections Framework</a>.
 *
 * @since 1.5
 * @author Doug Lea
 * @param <E> the type of elements held in this queue
 */
public interface Queue<E> extends Collection<E> {
    
Inserts the specified element into this queue if it is possible to do so immediately without violating capacity restrictions, returning true upon success and throwing an IllegalStateException if no space is currently available. 
Params:
  • e – the element to add
Throws:
Returns:true (as specified by Collection.add)
/**
     * Inserts the specified element into this queue if it is possible to do so
     * immediately without violating capacity restrictions, returning
     * {@code true} upon success and throwing an {@code IllegalStateException}
     * if no space is currently available.
     *
     * @param e the element to add
     * @return {@code true} (as specified by {@link Collection#add})
     * @throws IllegalStateException if the element cannot be added at this
     *         time due to capacity restrictions
     * @throws ClassCastException if the class of the specified element
     *         prevents it from being added to this queue
     * @throws NullPointerException if the specified element is null and
     *         this queue does not permit null elements
     * @throws IllegalArgumentException if some property of this element
     *         prevents it from being added to this queue
     */
    boolean add(E e);

    
Inserts the specified element into this queue if it is possible to do so immediately without violating capacity restrictions. When using a capacity-restricted queue, this method is generally preferable to add, which can fail to insert an element only by throwing an exception. 
Params:
  • e – the element to add
Throws:
Returns:true if the element was added to this queue, else false
/**
     * Inserts the specified element into this queue if it is possible to do
     * so immediately without violating capacity restrictions.
     * When using a capacity-restricted queue, this method is generally
     * preferable to {@link #add}, which can fail to insert an element only
     * by throwing an exception.
     *
     * @param e the element to add
     * @return {@code true} if the element was added to this queue, else
     *         {@code false}
     * @throws ClassCastException if the class of the specified element
     *         prevents it from being added to this queue
     * @throws NullPointerException if the specified element is null and
     *         this queue does not permit null elements
     * @throws IllegalArgumentException if some property of this element
     *         prevents it from being added to this queue
     */
    boolean offer(E e);

    
Retrieves and removes the head of this queue. This method differs from poll() only in that it throws an exception if this queue is empty. 
Throws:
Returns:the head of this queue
/**
     * Retrieves and removes the head of this queue.  This method differs
     * from {@link #poll() poll()} only in that it throws an exception if
     * this queue is empty.
     *
     * @return the head of this queue
     * @throws NoSuchElementException if this queue is empty
     */
    E remove();

    
Retrieves and removes the head of this queue, or returns null if this queue is empty. 
Returns:the head of this queue, or null if this queue is empty
/**
     * Retrieves and removes the head of this queue,
     * or returns {@code null} if this queue is empty.
     *
     * @return the head of this queue, or {@code null} if this queue is empty
     */
    E poll();

    
Retrieves, but does not remove, the head of this queue. This method differs from peek only in that it throws an exception if this queue is empty. 
Throws:
Returns:the head of this queue
/**
     * Retrieves, but does not remove, the head of this queue.  This method
     * differs from {@link #peek peek} only in that it throws an exception
     * if this queue is empty.
     *
     * @return the head of this queue
     * @throws NoSuchElementException if this queue is empty
     */
    E element();

    
Retrieves, but does not remove, the head of this queue, or returns null if this queue is empty. 
Returns:the head of this queue, or null if this queue is empty
/**
     * Retrieves, but does not remove, the head of this queue,
     * or returns {@code null} if this queue is empty.
     *
     * @return the head of this queue, or {@code null} if this queue is empty
     */
    E peek();
}