Stacks

DotNet.AdvancedCollections provides advanced stack implementations.

PriorityStack<T>

A priority stack where elements are popped according to their priority instead of LIFO.

Features

• Elements with higher priority are popped first
• Efficient implementation
• Familiar API similar to Stack<T>

Usage Example

using DotNet.AdvancedCollections.Stack.PriorityStack;

var stack = new PriorityStack<string>();

// Push with priorities
stack.Push("Low priority task", 1);
stack.Push("High priority task", 10);
stack.Push("Medium priority task", 5);

// Pop (returns "High priority task")
var next = stack.Pop();

// Peek at the next item without popping
var peek = stack.Peek();

// Check if empty
bool isEmpty = stack.IsEmpty;

// Get element count
int count = stack.Count;

// Clear the stack
stack.Clear();

Use Cases

The priority stack is useful in scenarios such as:

• Task processing systems with priorities
• Algorithms requiring prioritized element access
• Event management with different importance levels
• Process schedulers

Practical Example

using DotNet.AdvancedCollections.Stack.PriorityStack;

public class TaskProcessor
{
    private readonly PriorityStack<Task> _tasks = new();

    public void AddTask(Task task, int priority)
    {
        _tasks.Push(task, priority);
    }

    public async Task ProcessNextTask()
    {
        if (!_tasks.IsEmpty)
        {
            var task = _tasks.Pop();
            await task.ExecuteAsync();
        }
    }

    public int PendingTasks => _tasks.Count;
}

Comparison with Standard Stack<T>

Feature	PriorityStack<T>	Stack<T>
Pop order	By priority	LIFO
Push complexity	O(log n)	O(1)
Pop complexity	O(log n)	O(1)
Memory usage	Higher	Lower