difference between [--nItems] and [nItems-1]??

[Nadine Ernest]

In the priority queue,
i dont understand these two methods....

they are the opposite of what should be done,, i think they give the maximum but in the data structures book it says the following

to remove the minimum:

public int remove()
{ nItems --;
   return queArray[nItems];
}

and the other method is to peek on the minimum in the PRIORITY QUEUE:

public int peekMin ()
{ return queArray[nItems-1];
}

this way, its gonna peek on the maximum --------> this is what i think

but the right thing is that it peeks on the minimum without changing anything this is from the book and my lectures so its correct but i just dont get it soo please help???

[Jesper de Jong]

The difference between the two methods you posted is this:

In the first version, you are decrementing the variable nItems. So the value of the variable nItems is changed.
In the second version, you are not changing the value of the variable nItems.

[Nadine Ernest]

aha...thank youuuu soo much!!

i totally misunderstood the whole thing,,,i read it upside down! (silly me!)