What is a Stack?

A Stack is a linear data structure that follows the LIFO (Last-In-First-Out) principle. Stack has
one end, whereas the Queue has two ends (front and rear). It contains only one pointer top
pointer pointing to the topmost element of the stack. Whenever an element is added in the stack,
it is added on the top of the stack, and the element can be deleted only from the stack. In other
words, a stack can be defined as a container in which insertion and deletion can be done from
the one end known as the top of the stack.

Some key points related to stack

o It is called as stack because it behaves like a real-world stack, piles of books, etc.
o A Stack is an abstract data type with a pre-defined capacity, which means that it can store
the elements of a limited size.
o It is a data structure that follows some order to insert and delete the elements, and that
order can be LIFO or FILO.

Working of Stack

Stack works on the LIFO pattern. As we can observe in the below figure there are five memory
blocks in the stack; therefore, the size of the stack is 5.

Suppose we want to store the elements in a stack and let's assume that stack is empty. We have
taken the stack of size 5 as shown below in which we are pushing the elements one by one until
the stack becomes full.
Since our stack is full as the size of the stack is 5. In the above cases, we can observe that it goes
from the top to the bottom when we were entering the new element in the stack. The stack gets
filled up from the bottom to the top.

When we perform the delete operation on the stack, there is only one way for entry and exit as
the other end is closed. It follows the LIFO pattern, which means that the value entered first will
be removed last. In the above case, the value 5 is entered first, so it will be removed only after
the deletion of all the other elements.

Standard Stack Operations

The following are some common operations implemented on the stack:

o push(): When we insert an element in a stack then the operation is known as a push. If
the stack is full then the overflow condition occurs.
o pop(): When we delete an element from the stack, the operation is known as a pop. If the
stack is empty means that no element exists in the stack, this state is known as an
underflow state.
o isEmpty(): It determines whether the stack is empty or not.
o isFull(): It determines whether the stack is full or not.'
o peek(): It returns the element at the given position.
o display(): It prints all the elements available in the stack.

PUSH operation

The steps involved in the PUSH operation is given below:

o Before inserting an element in a stack, we check whether the stack is full.

o If we try to insert the element in a stack, and the stack is full, then the overflow condition
occurs.
o When we initialize a stack, we set the value of top as -1 to check that the stack is empty.
o When the new element is pushed in a stack, first, the value of the top gets incremented,
i.e., top=top+1, and the element will be placed at the new position of the top.
 o The elements will be inserted until we reach the max size of the stack.

POP operation

The steps involved in the POP operation is given below:

o Before deleting the element from the stack, we check whether the stack is empty.
o If we try to delete the element from the empty stack, then the underflow condition
occurs.
o If the stack is not empty, we first access the element which is pointed by the top
o Once the pop operation is performed, the top is decremented by 1, i.e., top=top-1.
 Applications of Stack
The following are the applications of the stack:

o Balancing of symbols: Stack is used for balancing a symbol. For example, we have the
following program:
int main()
{
cout<<"Hello";
cout<<"javaTpoint";
}
As we know, each program has an opening and closing braces; when the opening braces come,
we push the braces in a stack, and when the closing braces appear, we pop the opening braces
from the stack. Therefore, the net value comes out to be zero. If any symbol is left in the stack, it
means that some syntax occurs in a program.
o String reversal: Stack is also used for reversing a string. For example, we want to
reverse a "javaTpoint" string, so we can achieve this with the help of a stack.
First, we push all the characters of the string in a stack until we reach the null character.
After pushing all the characters, we start taking out the character one by one until we
reach the bottom of the stack.
Recursion: The recursion means that the function is calling itself again. To maintain the
previous states, the compiler creates a system stack in which all the previous records of the
function are maintained.

Array implementation of Stack

In array implementation, the stack is formed by using the array. All the operations regarding the
stack are performed using arrays. Lets see how each operation can be implemented on the stack
using array data structure.

Adding an element onto the stack (push operation)

Adding an element into the top of the stack is referred to as push operation. Push operation
involves following two steps.
 1. Increment the variable Top so that it can now refere to the next memory location.
2. Add element at the position of incremented top. This is referred to as adding new element
at the top of the stack.

Stack is overflown when we try to insert an element into a completely filled stack therefore, our
main function must always avoid stack overflow condition.

Algorithm:

1. begin
2. if top = n then stack full
3. top = top + 1
4. stack (top) : = item;
5. end

Deletion of an element from a stack (Pop operation)

Deletion of an element from the top of the stack is called pop operation. The value of the
variable top will be incremented by 1 whenever an item is deleted from the stack. The top most
element of the stack is stored in an another variable and then the top is decremented by 1. the
operation returns the deleted value that was stored in another variable as the result.

The underflow condition occurs when we try to delete an element from an already empty stack.

Algorithm

1. begin
2. if top = 0 then stack empty;
3. item := stack(top);
4. top = top - 1;
5. end;
Stack Implementation using arrays
#include <stdio.h>
int stack[100],i,j,choice=0,n,top=-1;
void push();
void pop();
void show();
void main ()
{

printf("Enter the number of elements in the stack ");

scanf("%d",&n);
printf("*********Stack operations using array\n*********");
while(choice != 4)
{
printf("Chose one from the below options...\n");
printf("\n1.Push\n2.Pop\n3.Show\n4.Exit");
printf("\n Enter your choice \n");
scanf("%d",&choice);
switch(choice)
{
case 1:
{
push();
break;
}
case 2:
{
pop();
break;
}
case 3:
{
show();
break;
}
case 4:
{
printf("Exiting....");
break;
}
default:
{
printf("Please Enter valid choice ");
}
};
}
}
void push ()
{
 int val;
if (top == n )
printf("\n Overflow");
else
{
printf("Enter the value?");
scanf("%d",&val);
top = top +1;
stack[top] = val;
}
}
void pop ()
{
if(top == -1)
printf("Underflow");
else
top = top -1;
}
void show()
{
printf("stack elements are\n ")
for (i=top;i>=0;i--)
{
printf(" %d ",stack[i]);
}
if(top == -1)
{
printf("Stack is empty");
}
}

OUTPUT:
Enter the number of elements in the stack 5
*********Stack operations using array*********
----------------------------------------------
Chose one from the below options...
1.Push
2.Pop
3.Show
4.Exit
Enter your choice
5
Please Enter valid choice Chose one from the below options...
1.Push
2.Pop
3.Show
4.Exit
Enter your choice
1
Enter the value?12
Chose one from the below options...
1.Push
2.Pop
3.Show
4.Exit
Enter your choice
3
stack elements are
12
Chose one from the below options...
1.Push
2.Pop
3.Show
4.Exit
Enter your choice
1
Enter the value?12
Chose one from the below options...
1.Push
2.Pop
3.Show
4.Exit
Enter your choice
3
stack elements are
12
12
Chose one from the below options...
1.Push
2.Pop
3.Show
4.Exit
Enter your choice
4
Exiting....