Implement Priority Queue with in-place

Last updated: January 9, 2026

Quick Overview

Implement a priority queue that supports insertion and extraction of the highest priority element in O(log n) time, using in-place techniques. Your implementation should allow for the addition of elements with associated priorities and should be able to return and remove the element with the highest priority efficiently. Ensure that your solution handles edge cases, such as empty queues, appropriately.

Walmart
Coding & Algorithms
Software Engineer
Walmart
January 9, 2026
Software Engineer
Phone Screen
Coding & Algorithms
Medium

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Implement a priority queue that supports insertion and extraction of the highest priority element in O(log n) time, using in-place techniques. Your implementation should allow for the addition of elements with associated priorities and should be able to return and remove the element with the highest priority efficiently. Ensure that your solution handles edge cases, such as empty queues, appropriately.

How to Approach This
  1. Clarify input constraints and edge cases before writing code.
  2. Walk through your approach verbally and confirm with the interviewer before coding.
  3. Start with a brute force solution, then optimize. Mention time and space complexity.
  4. Test your solution with examples, including edge cases like empty input or duplicates.
  5. Consider common patterns: sliding window, two pointers, hash map, BFS/DFS, dynamic programming.
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Problem Analysis

This problem requires implementing a priority queue that efficiently supports insertion and extraction of the highest priority element. The priority queue can be implemented using a binary heap, which...

Approach
  1. Data Structure: We will use a list to represent the binary heap. The first element (index 0) will be ignored to make calculations easier (1-based indexing).
  2. Insertion: To insert an eleme...

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