Heap implementation in Java typically uses a priority queue or a custom implementation based on a binary tree or array. The Heap is a complete binary tree that satisfies the heap property: for a max-heap, each parent is greater than or equal to its children; for a min-heap, each parent is less than or equal to its children. Java’s PriorityQueue class implements a min-heap by default, allowing efficient insertion and removal of the smallest element. For a custom heap, the binary tree can be represented using an array for space efficiency, where the root starts at index 0 and parent-child relationships are managed using simple index arithmetic.
