Question:
I'm having trouble understanding this line:
rear->next = temp;
in this queue function:
void Queue::enqueue(int data) {
Node *temp = new Node(); // make a temporary node
temp->info = data; // assign passed in data to it
temp->next = 0; // make it point to null
if(front == 0) // if there is no front node
front = temp; // make this a front node
else // else, if there is already a front node
rear->next = temp; // make this rear's next pointer???? why?
rear = temp; // in any case make this a rear node
}
Wouldn't it make more sense to do it like this?
else // else, if there is already a front node temp->next = rear; // make temp point to REAR; not other way around rear = temp; // make temp a new rear node Answer:
The
rear
points to the last element. What is wanted is to placetemp
after the currentrear
, and then moverear
to point to the newly placed last element. So, if we were wanting to enqueue4
to the queue(1, 2, 3)
, we want:1 -> 2 -> 3 -> 4 | | front rear
Your solution lets
temp
cut in front of the currentrear
, and then movesrear
to the cut position. It doesn't even cut properly, since the item before therear
is still pointing to the originalrear
. Therear
isn't pointed to the last item anymore, and your queue would thus be in an inconsistent state.
1 -> 2 -> 3 | 4 -^ | | front rear