Decoding algorithms, such as successive cancellation, belief propagation and their variants, are crucial in realising the practical potential of polar codes.

The algorithm's efficient polynomial complexity allows it to scale with system size, which is essential as quantum computers become more powerful.

A PriorityQueue is a list that always keeps its items sorted based on some rule, like smallest to largest. So, when you take an item out, you always get the one with the highest (or lowest) priority.