Package Summary Overview Summary

### class:Queue [NONE]
- Type Parameters: `E` - the type of elements held in this collection All Superinterfaces: Collection<E>, Iterable<E> All Known Subinterfaces: BlockingDeque<E>, BlockingQueue<E>, Deque<E>, TransferQueue<E> All Known Implementing Classes: AbstractQueue, ArrayBlockingQueue, ArrayDeque, ConcurrentLinkedDeque, ConcurrentLinkedQueue, DelayQueue, LinkedBlockingDeque, LinkedBlockingQueue, LinkedList, LinkedTransferQueue, PriorityBlockingQueue, PriorityQueue, SynchronousQueue
      public interface Queue<E>
      extends Collection<E>
  A collection designed for holding elements prior to processing. Besides basic `Collection` operations, queues provide additional insertion, extraction, and inspection operations. Each of these methods exists in two forms: one throws an exception if the operation fails, the other returns a special value (either `null` or `false`, depending on the operation). The latter form of the insert operation is designed specifically for use with capacity-restricted `Queue` implementations; in most implementations, insert operations cannot fail.
  Summary of Queue methods
  | Throws exception | Returns special value
  Insert | `add(e)` | `offer(e)`
  Remove | `remove()` | `poll()`
  Examine | `element()` | `peek()`
Queues typically, but do not necessarily, order elements in a FIFO (first-in-first-out) manner. Among the exceptions are priority queues, which order elements according to a supplied comparator, or the elements' natural ordering, and LIFO queues (or stacks) which order the elements LIFO (last-in-first-out). Whatever the ordering used, the head of the queue is that element which would be removed by a call to `remove()` or `poll()`. In a FIFO queue, all new elements are inserted at the tail of the queue. Other kinds of queues may use different placement rules. Every `Queue` implementation must specify its ordering properties. The `offer` method inserts an element if possible, otherwise returning `false`. This differs from the `Collection.add` method, which can fail to add an element only by throwing an unchecked exception. The `offer` method is designed for use when failure is a normal, rather than exceptional occurrence, for example, in fixed-capacity (or "bounded") queues. The `remove()` and `poll()` methods remove and return the head of the queue. Exactly which element is removed from the queue is a function of the queue's ordering policy, which differs from implementation to implementation. The `remove()` and `poll()` methods differ only in their behavior when the queue is empty: the `remove()` method throws an exception, while the `poll()` method returns `null`. The `element()` and `peek()` methods return, but do not remove, the head of the queue. The `Queue` interface does not define the blocking queue methods , which are common in concurrent programming. These methods, which wait for elements to appear or for space to become available, are defined in the `BlockingQueue` interface, which extends this interface. `Queue` implementations generally do not allow insertion of `null` elements, although some implementations, such as `LinkedList`, do not prohibit insertion of `null`. Even in the implementations that permit it, `null` should not be inserted into a `Queue`, as `null` is also used as a special return value by the `poll` method to indicate that the queue contains no elements. `Queue` implementations generally do not define element-based versions of methods `equals` and `hashCode` but instead inherit the identity based versions from class `Object`, because element-based equality is not always well-defined for queues with the same elements but different ordering properties. This interface is a member of the Java Collections Framework . Since: 1.5 See Also: `Collection`, `LinkedList`, `PriorityQueue`, `LinkedBlockingQueue`, `BlockingQueue`, `ArrayBlockingQueue`, `LinkedBlockingQueue`, `PriorityBlockingQueue`

### method:add(E) [NONE]
- #### add
      boolean add(E e)
Inserts the specified element into this queue if it is possible to do so immediately without violating capacity restrictions, returning `true` upon success and throwing an `IllegalStateException` if no space is currently available. Specified by: `add` in interface `Collection<E>` Parameters: `e` - the element to add Returns: `true` (as specified by `Collection.add(E)`) Throws: `IllegalStateException` - if the element cannot be added at this time due to capacity restrictions `ClassCastException` - if the class of the specified element prevents it from being added to this queue `NullPointerException` - if the specified element is null and this queue does not permit null elements `IllegalArgumentException` - if some property of this element prevents it from being added to this queue

### method:offer(E) [NONE]
- #### offer
      boolean offer(E e)
Inserts the specified element into this queue if it is possible to do so immediately without violating capacity restrictions. When using a capacity-restricted queue, this method is generally preferable to `add(E)`, which can fail to insert an element only by throwing an exception. Parameters: `e` - the element to add Returns: `true` if the element was added to this queue, else `false` Throws: `ClassCastException` - if the class of the specified element prevents it from being added to this queue `NullPointerException` - if the specified element is null and this queue does not permit null elements `IllegalArgumentException` - if some property of this element prevents it from being added to this queue

### method:remove() [NONE]
- #### remove
      E remove()
Retrieves and removes the head of this queue. This method differs from `poll` only in that it throws an exception if this queue is empty. Returns: the head of this queue Throws: `NoSuchElementException` - if this queue is empty

### method:poll() [NONE]
- #### poll
      E poll()
Retrieves and removes the head of this queue, or returns `null` if this queue is empty. Returns: the head of this queue, or `null` if this queue is empty

### method:element() [NONE]
- #### element
      E element()
Retrieves, but does not remove, the head of this queue. This method differs from `peek` only in that it throws an exception if this queue is empty. Returns: the head of this queue Throws: `NoSuchElementException` - if this queue is empty

### method:peek() [NONE]
- #### peek
      E peek()
Retrieves, but does not remove, the head of this queue, or returns `null` if this queue is empty. Returns: the head of this queue, or `null` if this queue is empty