Self-adjusting binary trees

Abstract

We use the idea of self-adjusting trees to create new, simple data structures for priority queues (which we call heaps) and search trees. Unlike other efficient implementations of these data structures, self-adjusting trees have no balance condition. Instead, whenever the tree is accessed, certain adjustments take place. (In the case of heaps, the adjustment is a sequence of exchanges of children, in the case of search trees the adjustment is a sequence of rotations.) Self-adjusting trees are efficient in an amortized sense: any particular operation may be slow but any sequence of operations must be fast.