STACK

A
Data Structure

Table of Contents

What is a Stack

Stack Operations

LIFO Stack

Animation Depicting Push Operation

Animation Depicting Pop Operation

Array Implementation of Stack

Applications of stack
Checking for balanced braces
Converting Infix Expression to Postfix
Postfix calculator

What is a Stack?
A

stack is a Last In, First Out (LIFO) data

structure,objects inserted last are the first to
come out of the stack
Anything

added to the stack goes on the top

of the stack
Anything

removed from the stack is taken from

the top of the stack
Things

are removed in the reverse order from

that in which they were inserted

Stack Operations

PUSH
Adds the object to the top of the stack

POP
Removes the object at the top of the stack
and returns it

PEEK
Returns the top object of the stack but does
not remove it from the stack

ISEMPTY

Returns True if Stack is empty

A LIFO Stack
Push

Stack Pointer

Pop

Top

Bottom

Push Operation

Pop Operation

array Implementation of Stack

A[1] A[2] .
Push X

Stack pointer
J=2
Before Push

Pop

A[n]

Stack pointer
J=3
After Push

After many
Push Ops

After many Pop ops

Stack Pointer
J=0
Stack Empty

Stack Pointer
J=2
After Pop

Stack Pointer
J=3
Before Pop

Stack pointer
J=n
Stack Full

Checking for Balanced Braces

([]({()}[()])) is balanced; ([]({()}[())]) is not

Simple counting is not enough to check
balance
You can do it with a stack: going left to
right,
If you see a (, [, or {, push it on the
stack
If you see a ), ], or }, pop the stack
and check whether you got the
corresponding (, [, or {
When you reach the end, check that the
stack is empty

Converting Infix Expressions to Equivalent

Postfix Expressions

Infix Expression

a+b

Postfix Expression

ab+

An infix expression can be evaluated by first

being converted into an equivalent postfix
expression
Facts about converting from infix to postfix
Operands always stay in the same order with
respect to one another
All parentheses are removed

Algorithm : Converting Infix Expression to

Postfix using stack
Suppose X is an arithmetic expression written in infix notation.
This algorithm finds the equivalent postfix expression Y.
1. Push "(" onto STACK, and add ")" to the end of X.
2. Scan X from left to right and REPEAT Steps 3 to 6 for each element of X UNTIL the
STACK is empty :
3. If an operand is encountered, add it to Y.
4. If a left parenthesis is encountered, push it onto STACK.
5. If an operator is encountered, then :
(a) Repeatedly pop from STACK and add to Y each operator (on the top of STACK) which has
the same precedence as or higher precedence than operator.
(b) Add operator to STACK.
/* End of If structure * /
6. If a right parenthesis is encountered, then :
(a) Repeatedly pop from STACK and add to Y each operator (on the top of STACK)
until a left parenthesis is encountered.
(b) Remove the left parenthesis. [Do not add the left parenthesis to Y].
/* End of If structure * /
/* End of Step 2 loop * /
7. END.

A trace of the algorithm that converts the infix expression

a - (b + c * d)/e to postfix form

A postfix calculator

When an operand is entered, the calculator

Pushes it onto a stack
When an operator is entered, the calculator
Applies it to the top (one or two, depending
on unary or binary operator) operand(s) of
the stack
Pops

the operands from the stack

Pushes

stack

the result of the operation on the

The action of a postfix calculator when evaluating the expression 2 * (3 + 4)

Postfix Notation--- 2 3 4 + *

Acknowledgement

Data Structures BY Tanenbaum

Internet
Computer Science C++ A textbook for class XII
Sumita Arora

prepared bySeema kaushik,

Computer science department,
DAV public school, sector-14, gurgaon

-By