Stack Data Structure
A stack is a linear data structure that follows the principle of Last In First Out
(LIFO). This means the last element inserted inside the stack is removed first.
You can think of the stack data structure as the pile of plates on top of
another.
Stack representation similar to a pile of plate
Here, you can:
Put a new plate on top
Remove the top plate
And, if you want the plate at the bottom, you must first remove all the plates
on top. This is exactly how the stack data structure works.
LIFO Principle of Stack
In programming terms, putting an item on top of the stack is called push and
removing an item is called pop.
Stack Push and Pop Operations
In the above image, although item 3 was kept last, it was removed first. This is
exactly how the LIFO (Last In First Out) Principle works.
We can implement a stack in any programming language like C, C++, Java,
Python or C#, but the specification is pretty much the same.
Basic Operations of Stack
There are some basic operations that allow us to perform different actions on
a stack.
Push: Add an element to the top of a stack
Pop: Remove an element from the top of a stack
IsEmpty: Check if the stack is empty
IsFull: Check if the stack is full
Peek: Get the value of the top element without removing it
Working of Stack Data Structure
The operations work as follows:
1. A pointer called TOP is used to keep track of the top element in the stack.
2. When initializing the stack, we set its value to -1 so that we can check if the
stack is empty by comparing TOP == -1 .
3. On pushing an element, we increase the value of TOP and place the new
element in the position pointed to by TOP .
4. On popping an element, we return the element pointed to by TOP and reduce
its value.
5. Before pushing, we check if the stack is already full
6. Before popping, we check if the stack is already empty
Working of Stack Data Structure
Stack Implementations via C++
The most common stack implementation is using arrays, but it can also be
implemented using lists.
// Stack implementation in C++
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
#define MAX 10
int size = 0;
// Creating a stack
struct stack {
int items[MAX];
int top;
};
typedef struct stack st;
void createEmptyStack(st *s) {
s->top = -1;
}
// Check if the stack is full
int isfull(st *s) {
if (s->top == MAX - 1)
return 1;
else
return 0;
}
// Check if the stack is empty
int isempty(st *s) {
if (s->top == -1)
return 1;
else
return 0;
}
// Add elements into stack
void push(st *s, int newitem) {
if (isfull(s)) {
cout << "STACK FULL";
} else {
s->top++;
s->items[s->top] = newitem;
}
size++;
}
// Remove element from stack
void pop(st *s) {
if (isempty(s)) {
cout << "\n STACK EMPTY \n";
} else {
cout << "Item popped= " << s->items[s->top];
s->top--;
}
size--;
cout << endl;
}
// Print elements of stack
void printStack(st *s) {
printf("Stack: ");
for (int i = 0; i < size; i++) {
cout << s->items[i] << " ";
}
cout << endl;
}
// Driver code
int main() {
int ch;
st *s = (st *)malloc(sizeof(st));
createEmptyStack(s);
push(s, 1);
push(s, 2);
push(s, 3);
push(s, 4);
printStack(s);
pop(s);
cout << "\nAfter popping out\n";
printStack(s);
}
Stack Time Complexity
For the array-based implementation of a stack, the push and pop operations
take constant time, i.e. O(1) .
Applications of Stack Data Structure
Although stack is a simple data structure to implement, it is very powerful. The
most common uses of a stack are:
To reverse a word - Put all the letters in a stack and pop them out. Because
of the LIFO order of stack, you will get the letters in reverse order.
In compilers - Compilers use the stack to calculate the value of expressions
like 2 + 4 / 5 * (7 - 9) by converting the expression to prefix or postfix form.
In browsers - The back button in a browser saves all the URLs you have
visited previously in a stack. Each time you visit a new page, it is added on top
of the stack. When you press the back button, the current URL is removed
from the stack, and the previous URL is accessed.
