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<programming> A first-in first-out data structure used to sequence objects. Objects are added to the tail of the queue ("enqueued") and taken off the head ("dequeued").
For example, an operating system might use a queue to serialise concurrent demands for a resource such as a printer, processor or communications channel. Users might place files on a print queue and a background process or "demon" would take them off and print them. Another common use is to pass data between an interrupt handler and a user process.
(2007-05-18)
Nearby terms: ques « Quest « question mark « queue » Queued Sequential Access Method » QUICK » quick-and-dirty
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