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heap

(1) In programming, an area of memory reserved for data that is created at runtime -- that is, when the program actually executes. In contrast, the stack is an area of memory used for data whose size can be determined when the program is compiled.

(2) A special type of binary tree in which the value of each node is greater than the values of its leaves. A heap sort algorithm works by first organizing a list of data into a heap.



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