Stack

It is a linear data structure that follows a particular order in which the

operations are performed.
LIFO( Last In First Out ):
This strategy states that the element that is inserted last will come out first.
You can take a pile of plates kept on top of each other as a real-life example.
The plate which we put last is on the top and since we remove the plate that
is at the top, we can say that the plate that was put last comes out first. 

Basic Operations on Stack

In order to make manipulations in a stack, there are certain operations
provided to us.
 push() to insert an element into the stack
 pop() to remove an element from the stack
 top() Returns the top element of the stack.
 isEmpty() returns true is stack is empty else false
 size() returns the size of stack

Stack
Push: 
Adds an item to the stack. If the stack is full, then it is said to be an Overflow
condition.
Algorithm for push:
begin
if stack is full
return
endif
else
increment top
stack[top] assign value
end else
end procedure

Pop:
Removes an item from the stack. The items are popped in the reversed order
in which they are pushed. If the stack is empty, then it is said to be an
Underflow condition.
Algorithm for pop:
begin
if stack is empty
return
endif
else
store value of stack[top]
decrement top
return value
end else
end procedure

Top:
Returns the top element of the stack.
Algorithm for Top:
begin
return stack[top]
end procedure
isEmpty:
Returns true if the stack is empty, else false.
Algorithm for isEmpty:
begin
if top < 1
return true
else
return false
end procedure
Understanding stack practically:
There are many real-life examples of a stack. Consider the simple example
of plates stacked over one another in a canteen. The plate which is at the
top is the first one to be removed, i.e. the plate which has been placed at the
bottommost position remains in the stack for the longest period of time. So, it
can be simply seen to follow the LIFO/FILO order.

Complexity Analysis:   
 Time Complexity
Operations   Complexity

push()  O(1)

pop()    O(1)

isEmpty()  O(1)

size() O(1)

Types of Stacks:
 Register Stack: This type of stack is also a memory element
present in the memory unit and can handle a small amount of data
only. The height of the register stack is always limited as the size of
the register stack is very small compared to the memory.
 Memory Stack: This type of stack can handle a large amount of
memory data. The height of the memory stack is flexible as it
occupies a large amount of memory data. 
Applications of the stack:
 Infix to Postfix /Prefix conversion
 Redo-undo features at many places like editors, photoshop.
 Forward and backward features in web browsers
  Used in many algorithms like Tower of Hanoi, tree traversals , stock
span problems, and histogram problems .
 Backtracking is one of the algorithm designing techniques. Some
examples of backtracking are the Knight-Tour problem, N-Queen
problem, find your way through a maze, and game-like chess or
checkers in all these problems we dive into someway if that way is
not efficient we come back to the previous state and go into some
another path. To get back from a current state we need to store the
previous state for that purpose we need a stack.
 In Graph Algorithms like Topological Sorting and Strongly
Connected Components
 In Memory management, any modern computer uses a stack as the
primary management for a running purpose. Each program that is
running in a computer system has its own memory allocations
 String reversal is also another application of stack. Here one by one
each character gets inserted into the stack. So the first character of
the string is on the bottom of the stack and the last element of a
string is on the top of the stack. After Performing the pop operations
on the stack we get a string in reverse order.
Implementation of Stack:  
There are two ways to implement a stack
 Using array
 Using linked list
Implementing Stack using Arrays:
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Implement Stack using Linked List

Linked List

Stack

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 C++
 C
 Java
 Python3
 C#
  Javascript

// C program for array implementation of stack

#include <limits.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
  
// A structure to represent a stack
struct Stack {
    int top;
    unsigned capacity;
    int* array;
};
  
// function to create a stack of given capacity. It initializes size of
// stack as 0
struct Stack* createStack(unsigned capacity)
{
    struct Stack* stack = (struct Stack*)malloc(sizeof(struct Stack));
    stack->capacity = capacity;
    stack->top = -1;
    stack->array = (int*)malloc(stack->capacity * sizeof(int));
    return stack;
}
  
// Stack is full when top is equal to the last index
int isFull(struct Stack* stack)
{
    return stack->top == stack->capacity - 1;
}
  
// Stack is empty when top is equal to -1
int isEmpty(struct Stack* stack)
{
    return stack->top == -1;
}
  
// Function to add an item to stack.  It increases top by 1
void push(struct Stack* stack, int item)
{
    if (isFull(stack))
        return;
    stack->array[++stack->top] = item;
    printf("%d pushed to stack\n", item);
}
  
// Function to remove an item from stack.  It decreases top by 1
 int pop(struct Stack* stack)
{
    if (isEmpty(stack))
        return INT_MIN;
    return stack->array[stack->top--];
}
  
// Function to return the top from stack without removing it
int peek(struct Stack* stack)
{
    if (isEmpty(stack))
        return INT_MIN;
    return stack->array[stack->top];
}
  
// Driver program to test above functions
int main()
{
    struct Stack* stack = createStack(100);
  
    push(stack, 10);
    push(stack, 20);
    push(stack, 30);
  
    printf("%d popped from stack\n", pop(stack));
  
    return 0;
}

Output
10 pushed into stack
20 pushed into stack
30 pushed into stack
30 Popped from stack
Top element is : 20
Elements present in stack : 20 10

Advantages of array implementation:

 Easy to implement.
 Memory is saved as pointers are not involved. 
Disadvantages of array implementation:
 It is not dynamic.
 It doesn’t grow and shrink depending on needs at runtime.
Implementing Stack using Linked List:
  C++
 C
 Java
 Python3
 C#
 Javascript

// C program for linked list implementation of stack

#include <limits.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
  
// A structure to represent a stack
struct StackNode {
    int data;
    struct StackNode* next;
};
  
struct StackNode* newNode(int data)
{
    struct StackNode* stackNode = 
      (struct StackNode*)
      malloc(sizeof(struct StackNode));
    stackNode->data = data;
    stackNode->next = NULL;
    return stackNode;
}
  
int isEmpty(struct StackNode* root)
{
    return !root;
}
  
void push(struct StackNode** root, int data)
{
    struct StackNode* stackNode = newNode(data);
    stackNode->next = *root;
    *root = stackNode;
    printf("%d pushed to stack\n", data);
}
  
int pop(struct StackNode** root)
{
    if (isEmpty(*root))
        return INT_MIN;
    struct StackNode* temp = *root;
     *root = (*root)->next;
    int popped = temp->data;
    free(temp);
  
    return popped;
}
  
int peek(struct StackNode* root)
{
    if (isEmpty(root))
        return INT_MIN;
    return root->data;
}
  
int main()
{
    struct StackNode* root = NULL;
  
    push(&root, 10);
    push(&root, 20);
    push(&root, 30);
  
    printf("%d popped from stack\n", pop(&root));
  
    printf("Top element is %d\n", peek(root));
  
    return 0;
}

Output
10 pushed to stack
20 pushed to stack
30 pushed to stack
30 popped from stack
Top element is 20
Elements present in stack : 20 10

Advantages of Linked List implementation:

 The linked list implementation of a stack can grow and shrink according to
the needs at runtime.
 It is used in many virtual machines like JVM.
 Stacks are more secure and reliable as they do not get corrupted easily.
 Stack cleans up the objects automatically.
 Disadvantages of Linked List implementation:                   
                                                                      
 Requires extra memory due to the involvement of pointers.
 Random accessing is not possible in stack.
 The total size of the stack must be defined before.
 If the stack falls outside the memory it can lead to abnormal termination

A stack is a linear data structure, collection of items of the same type.

Stack follows the Last In First Out (LIFO) fashion wherein the last element entered
is the first one to be popped out.

In stacks, the insertion and deletion of elements happen only at one endpoint of it.

1. Operations performed on Stacks

The following are the basic operations served by the Stacks.

 Push: This function adds an element to the top of the Stack.

 Pop: This function removes the topmost element from the stack.
 IsEmpty: Checks whether the stack is empty.
 IsFull: Checks whether the stack is full.
 Top: Displays the topmost element of the stack.

2. Working of Stacks
Initially, we set a pointer Peek/Top to keep the track of the topmost item in the stack.

Initialize the stack to -1. Then, we check whether the stack is empty through the
comparison of Peek to -1 i.e. Top == -1

As we add the elements to the stack, the position of the Peek element keeps
updating every time.

As soon as we pop or delete an item from the set of inputs, the top-most element
gets deleted and thus the value of Peek/Top gets reduced.
3. Implementing Stack in C
Stacks can be represented using structures, pointers, arrays or linked lists.

Here, We have implemented stacks using arrays in C.

#include<stdio.h>

#include<stdlib.h>

#define Size 4

int Top=-1, inp_array[Size];

void Push();
void Pop();
void show();

int main()
{
int choice;

while(1)
{
printf("\nOperations performed by Stack");
printf("\n1.Push the element\n2.Pop the element\n3.Show\
n4.End");
printf("\n\nEnter the choice:");
scanf("%d",&choice);

switch(choice)
{
case 1: Push();
break;
case 2: Pop();
break;
case 3: show();
break;
case 4: exit(0);

default: printf("\nInvalid choice!!");

}
}
}
void Push()
{
int x;

if(Top==Size-1)
{
printf("\nOverflow!!");
}
else
{
printf("\nEnter element to be inserted to the stack:");
scanf("%d",&x);
Top=Top+1;
inp_array[Top]=x;
}
}

void Pop()
{
if(Top==-1)
{
printf("\nUnderflow!!");
}
else
{
printf("\nPopped element: %d",inp_array[Top]);
Top=Top-1;
}
}

void show()
{

if(Top==-1)
{
printf("\nUnderflow!!");
}
else
{
printf("\nElements present in the stack: \n");
 for(int i=Top;i>=0;--i)
printf("%d\n",inp_array[i]);
}
}
Copy

Output:

Operations performed by Stack

1.Push the element
2.Pop the element
3.Show
4.End

Enter the choice:1

Enter element to be inserted to the stack:10

Operations performed by Stack

1.Push the element
2.Pop the element
3.Show
4.End

Enter the choice:3

Elements present in the stack:

10

Operations performed by Stack

1.Push the element
2.Pop the element
3.Show
4.End

Enter the choice:2

Popped element: 10

Operations performed by Stack

1.Push the element
2.Pop the element
3.Show
4.End

Enter the choice:3

Underflow!!

Copy

4. Time Complexity of Stack Operations

As mentioned above, only a single element can be accessed at a time in Stacks.

While performing push() and pop() operations on the stack, it takes O(1) time.

5. Applications of Stack
As soon as the compiler encounters a function call, it gets pushed into the stack.

In the case of nested functions, the inner functions get executed before the outer
functions. This is totally managed by stacks.

The Stack is used to solve a few of the general problems like:

1. Tower of Hanoi
2. N queens problem
3. Infix to prefix conversion, etc.

6. Conclusion
Thus, in this article, we have understood the concept of Stack data structure and its
implementation using Arrays in C.