What is a priority queue in Python?

Can you explain what a priority queue is in Python?

A priority queue is a data structure where each element has a priority. Elements with higher priority are dequeued before those with lower priority.

How do I implement a priority queue in Python?

You can use the queue.PriorityQueue class from the queue module or the heapq module for a more manual implementation.

Can you show me a simple example using heapq?

Sure! Here's a basic example:

import heapq

pq = []
heapq.heappush(pq, (1, 'task1'))
heapq.heappush(pq, (3, 'task3'))
heapq.heappush(pq, (2, 'task2'))

while pq:
    priority, task = heapq.heappop(pq)
    print(f'Processing {task} with priority {priority}')