Circular buffer vs queue

1. What is the difference between circular buffer and circular queue?
2. Is a circular buffer a queue?
3. What is the difference between a queue and a circular queue?
4. What is a circular buffer used for?

What is the difference between circular buffer and circular queue?

A Circular Queue is an extension of the Queue data structure such that the last element of the queue links to the first element. It is known as Ring Buffer, Circular Buffer or Cyclic Buffer. In Linear Queue Data Structure, we have two pointers Front and Rear.

Is a circular buffer a queue?

Circular Buffer or Ring Buffer is a circular queue that allows the usage of memory in a contiguous manner. Circular Buffer follows the FIFO principle i.e First In First Out.

What is the difference between a queue and a circular queue?

In linear queue, insertion is done from the rear end, and deletion is done from the front end. In circular queue, the insertion and deletion can take place from any end. The memory space occupied by the linear queue is more than the circular queue. It requires less memory as compared to linear queue.

What is a circular buffer used for?

A circular buffer is a utility used to transfer successive data values from a producer thread to a consumer thread, who retrieves the data in FIFO (first in first out) order.