ECE 250 Algorithms and Data Structures

Stacks

Douglas Wilhelm Harder, M.Math. LEL

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Waterloo
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

ece.uwaterloo.ca
[email protected]

© 2006-2013 by Douglas Wilhelm Harder. Some rights reserved.

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3.2 Outline

This topic discusses the concept of a stack:

– Description of an Abstract Stack
– List applications
– Implementation
– Example applications
• Parsing: XHTML, C++
• Function calls
• Reverse-Polish calculators
• Robert’s Rules
– Standard Template Library
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3.2.1 Abstract Stack

An Abstract Stack (Stack ADT) is an abstract data type which

emphasizes specific operations:
– Uses a explicit linear ordering
– Insertions and removals are performed individually
– Inserted objects are pushed onto the stack
– The top of the stack is the most recently object pushed onto the stack
– When an object is popped from the stack, the current top is erased
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3.2.1 Abstract Stack

Also called a last-in–first-out (LIFO) behaviour

– Graphically, we may view these operations as follows:

There are two exceptions associated with abstract stacks:

– It is an undefined operation to call either pop or top on an empty stack
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3.2.2 Applications

Numerous applications:
– Parsing code:
• Matching parenthesis
• XML (e.g., XHTML)
– Tracking function calls
– Dealing with undo/redo operations
– Reverse-Polish calculators
– Assembly language

The stack is a very simple data structure

– Given any problem, if it is possible to use a stack, this significantly
simplifies the solution
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3.2.2 Stack: Applications

Problem solving:
– Solving one problem may lead to subsequent problems
– These problems may result in further problems
– As problems are solved, your focus shifts back to the problem which
lead to the solved problem

Notice that function calls behave similarly:

– A function is a collection of code which solves a problem

Reference: Donald Knuth

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3.2.3 Implementations

We will look at two implementations of stacks:

The optimal asymptotic run time of any algorithm is Q(1)

– The run time of the algorithm is independent of the number of objects
being stored in the container
– We will always attempt to achieve this lower bound

We will look at
– Singly linked lists
– One-ended arrays
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3.2.3.1 Linked-List Implementation

Operations at the front of a singly linked list are all Q(1)

Front/1st Back/nth
Find Q(1) Q(1)
Insert Q(1) Q(1)
Erase Q(1) Q(n)

The desired behaviour of an Abstract Stack may be reproduced by

performing all operations at the front
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3.2.3.1 Single_list Definition

The definition of single list class from Project 1 is:

template <typename Type>
class Single_list {
public:
Single_list();
~Single_list();

int size() const;

bool empty() const;
Type front() const;
Type back() const;
Single_node<Type> *head() const;
Single_node<Type> *tail() const;
int count( Type const & ) const;

void push_front( Type const & );

void push_back( Type const & );
Type pop_front();
int erase( Type const & );
};
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3.2.3.1 Stack-as-List Class

The stack class using a singly linked list has a single private
member variable:

template <typename Type>

class Stack {
private:
Single_list<Type> list;
public:
bool empty() const;
Type top() const;
void push( Type const & );
Type pop();
};
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3.2.3.1 Stack-as-List Class

A constructor and destructor is not needed

– Because list is declared, the compiler will call the constructor of the
Single_list class when the Stack is constructed

template <typename Type>

class Stack {
private:
Single_list<Type> list;
public:
bool empty() const;
Type top() const;
void push( Type const & );
Type pop();
};
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3.2.3.1 Stack-as-List Class

The empty and push functions just call the appropriate functions of
the Single_list class

template <typename Type>

bool Stack<Type>::empty() const {
return list.empty();
}

template <typename Type>

void Stack<Type>::push( Type const &obj ) {
list.push_front( obj );
}
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3.2.3.1 Stack-as-List Class

The top and pop functions, however, must check the boundary case:

template <typename Type>

Type Stack<Type>::top() const {
if ( empty() ) {
throw underflow();
}

template <typename Type>

return list.front();
Type Stack<Type>::pop() {
}
if ( empty() ) {
throw underflow();
}

return list.pop_front();
}
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3.2.3.2 Array Implementation

For one-ended arrays, all operations at the back are Q(1)

Front/1st Back/nth
Find Q(1) Q(1)
Insert Q(n) Q(1)
Erase Q(n) Q(1)
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3.2.3.2 Destructor

We need to store an array:

– In C++, this is done by storing the address of the first entry
Type *array;

We need additional information, including:

– The number of objects currently in the stack
int stack_size;
– The capacity of the array
int array_capacity;
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3.2.3.2 Stack-as-Array Class

We need to store an array:

– In C++, this is done by storing the address of the first entry
template <typename Type>
class Stack {
private:
int stack_size;
int array_capacity;
Type *array;
public:
Stack( int = 10 );
~Stack();
bool empty() const;
Type top() const;
void push( Type const & );
Type pop();
};
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3.2.3.2 Constructor

The class is only storing the address of the array

– We must allocate memory for the array and initialize the member
variables
– The call to new Type[array_capacity] makes a request to the
operating system for array_capacity objects

#include <algorithm>
// ...

template <typename Type>

Stack<Type>::Stack( int n ):
stack_size( 0 ),
array_capacity( std::max( 1, n ) ),
array( new Type[array_capacity] ) {
// Empty constructor
}
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3.2.3.2 Constructor

Warning: in C++, the variables are initialized in the order in which

they are defined:
template <typename Type>
class Stack {
template <typename Type> private:
Stack<Type>::Stack( int n ): int stack_size;
stack_size( 0 ), int array_capacity;
Type *array;
array_capacity( std::max( 1, n ) ),
public:
array( new Type[array_capacity] ) { Stack( int = 10 );
// Empty constructor ~Stack();
} bool empty() const;
Type top() const;
void push( Type const & );
Type pop();
};
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3.2.3.2 Destructor

The call to new in the constructor requested memory from the

operating system
– The destructor must return that memory to the operating system:

template <typename Type>

Stack<Type>::~Stack() {
delete [] array;
}
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3.2.3.2 Empty

The stack is empty if the stack size is zero:

template <typename Type>

bool Stack<Type>::empty() const {
return ( stack_size == 0 );
}

The following is unnecessarily tedious:

– The == operator evaluates to either true or false
if ( stack_size == 0 ) {
return true;
} else {
return false;
}
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3.2.3.2 Top

If there are n objects in the stack, the last is located at index n – 1

template <typename Type>

Type Stack<Type>::top() const {
if ( empty() ) {
throw underflow();
}

return array[stack_size - 1];

}
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3.2.3.2 Pop

Removing an object simply involves reducing the size

– It is invalid to assign the last entry to “0”
– By decreasing the size, the previous top of the stack is now at the
location stack_size

template <typename Type>

Type Stack<Type>::pop() {
if ( empty() ) {
throw underflow();
}

--stack_size;
return array[stack_size];
}
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3.2.3.2 Push

Pushing an object onto the stack can only be performed if the

array is not full

template <typename Type>

void Stack<Type>::push( Type const &obj ) {
if ( stack_size == array_capacity ) {
throw overflow(); // Best solution?????
}

array[stack_size] = obj;
++stack_size;
}
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3.2.3.2 Exceptions

The case where the array is full is not an exception defined in the
Abstract Stack

If the array is filled, we have five options:

– Increase the size of the array
– Throw an exception
– Ignore the element being pushed
– Replace the current top of the stack
– Put the pushing process to “sleep” until something else removes
the top of the stack

Include a member function bool full() const;

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3.2.4 Array Capacity

If dynamic memory is available, the best option is to increase the

array capacity

If we increase the array capacity, the question is:

– How much?
– By a constant? array_capacity += c;
– By a multiple? array_capacity *= c;
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3.2.4 Array Capacity

First, let us visualize what must occur to allocate new memory

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3.2.4 Array Capacity

First, this requires a call to new Type[N] where N is the new

capacity
– We must have access to this so we must
store the address returned by new in a
local variable, say tmp
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3.2.4 Array Capacity

Next, the values must be copied over

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3.2.4 Array Capacity

The memory for the original array must be deallocated

W
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3.2.4 Array Capacity

Finally, the appropriate member variables must be reassigned

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3.2.4 Array Capacity

The implementation:
void double_capacity() {
Type *tmp_array = new Type[2*array_capacity];

}
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3.2.4 Array Capacity

The implementation:
void double_capacity() {
Type *tmp_array = new Type[2*array_capacity];

tmp_array

}
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3.2.4 Array Capacity

The implementation:
void double_capacity() {
Type *tmp_array = new Type[2*array_capacity];

for ( int i = 0; i < array_capacity; ++i ) {

tmp_array
tmp_array[i] = array[i];
}

}
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3.2.4 Array Capacity

The implementation:
void double_capacity() {
Type *tmp_array = new Type[2*array_capacity];

for ( int i = 0; i < array_capacity; ++i ) {

tmp_array
tmp_array[i] = array[i];
} W

delete [] array;

}
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3.2.4 Array Capacity

The implementation:
void double_capacity() {
Type *tmp_array = new Type[2*array_capacity];

for ( int i = 0; i < array_capacity; ++i ) {

tmp_array
tmp_array[i] = array[i];
}

delete [] array;
array = tmp_array;

array_capacity *= 2;
}
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3.2.4 Array Capacity

Back to the original question:

– How much do we change the capacity?
– Add a constant?
– Multiply by a constant?

First, we recognize that any time that we push onto a full stack, this
requires n copies and the run time is Q(n)

Therefore, push is usually Q(1) except when new memory is

required
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3.2.4 Array Capacity

To state the average run time, we will introduce the concept of

amortized time:
– If n operations requires Q(f(n)), we will say that an individual operation
has an amortized run time of Q(f(n)/n)
– Therefore, if inserting n objects requires:
• Q(n2) copies, the amortized time is Q(n)
• Q(n) copies, the amortized time is Q(1)
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3.2.4 Array Capacity

Let us consider the case of increasing the capacity by 1 each time

the array is full
– With each insertion when the array is full, this requires all entries to be
copied
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3.2.4 Array Capacity

Suppose we double the number of entries each time

the array is full
– Now the number of copies appears to be significantly
fewer
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3.2.4.1 Array Capacity

Suppose we insert n objects

– The pushing of the kth object on the stack requires k – 1 copies
– The total number of copies is now given by:
 n 
 
n
n(n  1) n(n  1)
k 1

(k  1)   k   n 
 
 k 1  2
n 
2
  n2

– Therefore, the amortized number of copies

is given by
n
2 
   n 

 n 
– Therefore each push must run in
Q(n) time
– The wasted space, however
is Q(1)
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3.2.4.2 Array Capacity

Suppose we double the array size each time it is full:

– This is difficult to solve for an arbitrary n so instead, we will restrict
the number of objects we are inserting to n = 2h objects
– We will then assume that the behavior for intermediate values
of n will be similar
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3.2.4.2 Array Capacity

Suppose we double the array size each time it is full:

– Inserting n = 2h objects would therefore require
1, 2, 4, 8, …, 2h–1
copies, for once we add the last object, the array will be full
– The total number of copies is therefore:
h 1

 2 k  2
k 0
h 11
 1  2h  1  n  1    n 

– Therefore the amortized number of

copies per insertion is Q(1)
– The wasted space,
however is O(n)
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3.2.4.3 Array Capacity

What if we increase the array size by a larger constant?

– For example, increase the array size by 4, 8, 100?
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3.2.4.3 Array Capacity

Suppose we increase it by a constant value m and we add n = ℓm

objects
– To add n items, we will have to make
m, 2m, 3m, …, (ℓ – 1)m
copies in total, or
1 1
   1  n
 km  m  k  m
2
   m2
     m    n 
 m
k 1 k 1

The amoritized number of copies is

n
     n
m
as m is fixed
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3.2.4.3 Array Capacity

Note the difference in worst-case amortized scenarios:

Copies per Unused
Insertion Memory
Increase by 1 n–1 0
Increase by m n/m m–1
Increase by a factor of 2 1 n
Increase by a factor of r > 1 1/(r – 1) (r – 1)n

The web site

http://www.ece.uwaterloo.ca/~ece250/Algorithms/Array_resizing/
discusses the consequences of various values of r
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3.2.5 Application: Parsing

Most parsing uses stacks

Examples includes:
– Matching tags in XHTML
– In C++, matching
• parentheses ( ... )
• brackets, and [ ... ]
• braces { ... }
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3.2.5.1 Parsing XHTML

The first example will demonstrate parsing XHTML

We will show how stacks may be used to parse an XHTML

document

You will use XHTML (and more generally XML and other markup
languages) in the workplace
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3.2.5.1 Parsing XHTML

A markup language is a means of annotating a document to given

context to the text
– The annotations give information about the structure or presentation of
the text

The best known example is HTML, or HyperText Markup Language

– We will look at XHTML
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3.2.5.1 Parsing XHTML

XHTML is made of nested

– opening tags, e.g., <some_identifier>, and
– matching closing tags, e.g., </some_identifier>
<html>
<head><title>Hello</title></head>
<body><p>This appears in the <i>browser</i>.</p></body>
</html>
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3.2.5.1 Parsing XHTML

Nesting indicates that any closing tag must match the most recent
opening tag

Strategy for parsing XHTML:

– read though the XHTML linearly
– place the opening tags in a stack
– when a closing tag is encountered, check that it matches what is on top
of the stack and
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3.2.5.1 Parsing XHTML

<html>
<head><title>Hello</title></head>
<body><p>This appears in the
<i>browser</i>.</p></body>
</html>

<html>
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3.2.5.1 Parsing XHTML

<html>
<head><title>Hello</title></head>
<body><p>This appears in the
<i>browser</i>.</p></body>
</html>

<html> <head>
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3.2.5.1 Parsing XHTML

<html>
<head><title>Hello</title></head>
<body><p>This appears in the
<i>browser</i>.</p></body>
</html>

<html> <head> <title>

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3.2.5.1 Parsing XHTML

<html>
<head><title>Hello</title></head>
<body><p>This appears in the
<i>browser</i>.</p></body>
</html>

<html> <head> <title>

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3.2.5.1 Parsing XHTML

<html>
<head><title>Hello</title></head>
<body><p>This appears in the
<i>browser</i>.</p></body>
</html>

<html> <head>
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3.2.5.1 Parsing XHTML

<html>
<head><title>Hello</title></head>
<body><p>This appears in the
<i>browser</i>.</p></body>
</html>

<html> <body>
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3.2.5.1 Parsing XHTML

<html>
<head><title>Hello</title></head>
<body><p>This appears in the
<i>browser</i>.</p></body>
</html>

<html> <body> <p>

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3.2.5.1 Parsing XHTML

<html>
<head><title>Hello</title></head>
<body><p>This appears in the
<i>browser</i>.</p></body>
</html>

<html> <body> <p> <i>

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3.2.5.1 Parsing XHTML

<html>
<head><title>Hello</title></head>
<body><p>This appears in the
<i>browser</i>.</p></body>
</html>

<html> <body> <p> <i>

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3.2.5.1 Parsing XHTML

<html>
<head><title>Hello</title></head>
<body><p>This appears in the
<i>browser</i>.</p></body>
</html>

<html> <body> <p>

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3.2.5.1 Parsing XHTML

<html>
<head><title>Hello</title></head>
<body><p>This appears in the
<i>browser</i>.</p></body>
</html>

<html> <body>
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3.2.5.1 Parsing XHTML

<html>
<head><title>Hello</title></head>
<body><p>This appears in the
<i>browser</i>.</p></body>
</html>

<html>
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3.2.5.1 Parsing XHTML

We are finished parsing, and the stack is empty

Possible errors:
– a closing tag which does not match the opening tag on top of the stack
– a closing tag when the stack is empty
– the stack is not empty at the end of the document
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3.2.5.1 HTML

Old HTML required neither closing tags nor nesting

<html>
<head><title>Hello</title></head>
<body><p>This is a list of topics:
<ol> <!-- para ends with start of list -->
<li><i>veni <!-- implied </li> -->
<li>vidi <!-- italics continues -->
<li>vici</i>
</ol> <!-- end-of-file implies </body></html> -->

Parsers were therefore specific to HTML

– Results: ambiguities and inconsistencies
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3.2.5.1 XML

XHTML is an implementation of XML

XML defines a class of general-purpose eXtensible Markup

Languages designed for sharing information between systems

The same rules apply for any flavour of XML:

– opening and closing tags must match and be nested
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3.2.5.2 Parsing C++

The next example shows how stacks may be used in parsing C++

Those taking ECE 351 Compilers will use this

For other students, it should help understand, in part:

– how a compiler works, and
– why programming languages have the structure they do
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3.2.5.2 Parsing C++

Like opening and closing tags, C++ parentheses, brackets, and

braces must be similarly nested:

void initialize( int *array, int n ) {

for ( int i = 0; i < n; ++i ) {
array[i] = 0;
}
}

http://xkcd.com/859/
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3.2.5.2 Parsing C++

For C++, the errors are similar to that for XHTML, however:
– many XHTML parsers usually attempt to “correct” errors (e.g., insert
missing tags)
– C++ compilers will simply issue a parse error:
{eceunix:1} cat example1.cpp
#include <vector>
int main() {
std::vector<int> v(100];
return 0;
}

{eceunix:2} g++ example1.cpp

example1.cpp: In function 'int main()':
example1.cpp:3: error: expected ')' before ']' token
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3.2.5.2 Parsing C++

For C++, the errors are similar to that for XHTML, however:
– many XHTML parsers usually attempt to “correct” errors (e.g., insert
missing tags)
– C++ compilers will simply issue a parse error:
{eceunix:1} cat example2.cpp
#include <vector>
int main() {
std::vector<int> v(100);
v[0] = 3];
return 0;
}
{eceunix:2} g++ example2.cpp
example2.cpp: In function 'int main()':
example2.cpp:4: error: expected ';' before ']' token
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3.2.5.3 Function Calls

This next example discusses function calls

In ECE 222 Digital Computers, you will see how stacks are
implemented in hardware on all CPUs to facilitate function calling

The simple features of a stack indicate why almost all programming

languages are based on function calls
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3.2.5.3 Function Calls

Function calls are similar to problem solving presented earlier:

– you write a function to solve a problem
– the function may require sub-problems to be solved, hence, it may call
another function
– once a function is finished, it returns to the function which called it
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3.2.5.3 Function Calls

You will notice that the when a function returns, execution and the
return value is passed back to the last function which was called

This is again, the last-in—first-out property

– Covered in much greater detail in ECE 222

Today’s CPUs have hardware specifically designed to facilitate

function calling
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3.2.5.4 Reverse-Polish Notation

Normally, mathematics is written using what we call in-fix notation:

(3 + 4) × 5 – 6
The operator is placed between to operands

One weakness: parentheses are required

(3 + 4) × 5 – 6 = 29
3+4 × 5–6 = 17
3 + 4 × (5 – 6) = –1
(3 + 4) × (5 – 6) = –7
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3.2.5.4 Reverse-Polish Notation

Alternatively, we can place the operands first, followed by the

operator:
(3 + 4) × 5 – 6
3 4 + 5 × 6 –

Parsing reads left-to-right and performs any operation on the

last two operands:
3 4 + 5 × 6 –
7 5 × 6 –
35 6 –
29
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3.2.5.4 Reverse-Polish Notation

This is called reverse-Polish notation after the mathematician Jan

Łukasiewicz
– As you will see in ECE 222, this forms the basis
of the recursive stack used on all processors

He also made significant contributions to

logic and other fields
– Including humour…

http://www.audiovis.nac.gov.pl/
http://xkcd.com/645/
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3.2.5.4 Reverse-Polish Notation

Other examples:
3 4 5 × + 6 –
3 20 + 6 –
23 6 –
17
3 4 5 6 – × +
3 4 –1 × +
3 –4 +
–1
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3.2.5.4 Reverse-Polish Notation

Benefits:
– No ambiguity and no brackets are required
– It is the same process used by a computer to perform computations:
• operands must be loaded into registers before operations can be performed
on them
– Reverse-Polish can be processed using stacks
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78

3.2.5.4 Reverse-Polish Notation

Reverse-Polish notation is used with some programming languages

– e.g., postscript, pdf, and HP calculators

Similar to the thought process required for writing assembly

language code
– you cannot perform an operation until you have all of the operands
loaded into registers

MOVE.L #$2A, D1 ; Load 42 into Register D1

MOVE.L #$100, D2 ; Load 256 into Register D2
ADD D2, D1 ; Add D2 into D1
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3.2.5.4 Reverse-Polish Notation

A quick example of postscript:

0 10 360 { % Go from 0 to 360 degrees in 10-degree steps

newpath % Start a new path
gsave % Keep rotations temporary
144 144 moveto
rotate % Rotate by degrees on stack from 'for'
72 0 rlineto
stroke
grestore % Get back the unrotated state
} for % Iterate over angles

http://www.tailrecursive.org/postscript/examples/rotate.html
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3.2.5.4 Reverse-Polish Notation

The easiest way to parse reverse-Polish notation is to use an

operand stack:
– operands are processed by pushing them onto the stack
– when processing an operator:
• pop the last two items off the operand stack,
• perform the operation, and
• push the result back onto the stack
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81

3.2.5.4 Reverse-Polish Notation

Evaluate the following reverse-Polish expression using a stack:

1 2 3 + 4 5 6 × – 7 × + – 8 9 × +
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82

3.2.5.4 Reverse-Polish Notation

Push 1 onto the stack

1 2 3 + 4 5 6 × – 7 × + – 8 9 × +

1
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83

3.2.5.4 Reverse-Polish Notation

Push 1 onto the stack

1 2 3 + 4 5 6 × – 7 × + – 8 9 × +

2
1
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84

3.2.5.4 Reverse-Polish Notation

Push 3 onto the stack

1 2 3 + 4 5 6 × – 7 × + – 8 9 × +

3
2
1
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85

3.2.5.4 Reverse-Polish Notation

Pop 3 and 2 and push 2 + 3 = 5

1 2 3 + 4 5 6 × – 7 × + – 8 9 × +

5
1
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86

3.2.5.4 Reverse-Polish Notation

Push 4 onto the stack

1 2 3 + 4 5 6 × – 7 × + – 8 9 × +

4
5
1
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87

3.2.5.4 Reverse-Polish Notation

Push 5 onto the stack

1 2 3 + 4 5 6 × – 7 × + – 8 9 × +

5
4
5
1
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88

3.2.5.4 Reverse-Polish Notation

Push 6 onto the stack

1 2 3 + 4 5 6 × – 7 × + – 8 9 × +

6
5
4
5
1
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89

3.2.5.4 Reverse-Polish Notation

Pop 6 and 5 and push 5 × 6 = 30

1 2 3 + 4 5 6 × – 7 × + – 8 9 × +

30
4
5
1
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90

3.2.5.4 Reverse-Polish Notation

Pop 30 and 4 and push 4 – 30 = –26

1 2 3 + 4 5 6 × – 7 × + – 8 9 × +

–26
5
1
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91

3.2.5.4 Reverse-Polish Notation

Push 7 onto the stack

1 2 3 + 4 5 6 × – 7 × + – 8 9 × +

7
–26
5
1
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92

3.2.5.4 Reverse-Polish Notation

Pop 7 and –26 and push –26 × 7 = –182

1 2 3 + 4 5 6 × – 7 × + – 8 9 × +

–182
5
1
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93

3.2.5.4 Reverse-Polish Notation

Pop –182 and 5 and push –182 + 5 = –177

1 2 3 + 4 5 6 × – 7 × + – 8 9 × +

–177
1
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94

3.2.5.4 Reverse-Polish Notation

Pop –177 and 1 and push 1 – (–177) = 178

1 2 3 + 4 5 6 × – 7 × + – 8 9 × +

178
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95

3.2.5.4 Reverse-Polish Notation

Push 8 onto the stack

1 2 3 + 4 5 6 × – 7 × + – 8 9 × +

8
178
 Stacks
96

3.2.5.4 Reverse-Polish Notation

Push 1 onto the stack

1 2 3 + 4 5 6 × – 7 × + – 8 9 × +

9
8
178
 Stacks
97

3.2.5.4 Reverse-Polish Notation

Pop 9 and 8 and push 8 × 9 = 72

1 2 3 + 4 5 6 × – 7 × + – 8 9 × +

72
178
 Stacks
98

3.2.5.4 Reverse-Polish Notation

Pop 72 and 178 and push 178 + 72 = 250

1 2 3 + 4 5 6 × – 7 × + – 8 9 × +

250
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99

3.2.5.4 Reverse-Polish Notation

Thus
1 2 3 + 4 5 6 × – 7 × + – 8 9 × +
evaluates to the value on the top: 250
The equivalent in-fix notation is
((1 – ((2 + 3) + ((4 – (5 × 6)) × 7))) + (8 × 9))

We reduce the parentheses using order-of-operations:

1 – (2 + 3 + (4 – 5 × 6) × 7) + 8 × 9
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100

3.2.5.4 Reverse-Polish Notation

Incidentally,
1 – 2 + 3 + 4 – 5 × 6 × 7 + 8 × 9 = – 132
which has the reverse-Polish notation of
1 2 – 3 + 4 + 5 6 7 × × – 8 9 × +

For comparison, the calculated expression was

1 2 3 + 4 5 6 × – 7 × + – 8 9 × +
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101

3.2.5.5 Standard Template Library

The Standard Template Library (STL) has a wrapper class stack

with the following declaration:

template <typename T>

class stack {
public:
stack(); // not quite true...
bool empty() const;
int size() const;
const T & top() const;
void push( const T & );
void pop();
};
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3.2.6 Standard Template Library

#include <iostream>
#include <stack>
using namespace std;
int main() {
stack<int> istack;

istack.push( 13 );
istack.push( 42 );
cout << "Top: " << istack.top() << endl;
istack.pop(); // no return value
cout << "Top: " << istack.top() << endl;
cout << "Size: " << istack.size() << endl;

return 0;
}
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3.2.6 Standard Template Library

The reason that the stack class is termed a wrapper is because it

uses a different container class to actually store the elements

The stack class simply presents the stack interface with

appropriately named member functions:
– push, pop , and top
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104

Stacks

The stack is the simplest of all ADTs

– Understanding how a stack works is trivial

The application of a stack, however, is not in the implementation,

but rather:
– Where possible, create a design which allows the use of a stack

We looked at:
– Parsing, function calls, and reverse Polish
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105

References

Donald E. Knuth, The Art of Computer Programming, Volume 1: Fundamental Algorithms, 3rd
Ed., Addison Wesley, 1997, §2.2.1, p.238.

Cormen, Leiserson, and Rivest, Introduction to Algorithms, McGraw Hill, 1990, §11.1, p.200.

Weiss, Data Structures and Algorithm Analysis in C++, 3rd Ed., Addison Wesley, §3.6, p.94.

Koffman and Wolfgang, “Objects, Abstraction, Data Strucutes and Design using C++”, John
Wiley & Sons, Inc., Ch. 5.

Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stack_(abstract_data_type)

These slides are provided for the ECE 250 Algorithms and Data Structures course. The
material in it reflects Douglas W. Harder’s best judgment in light of the information available to
him at the time of preparation. Any reliance on these course slides by any party for any other
purpose are the responsibility of such parties. Douglas W. Harder accepts no responsibility for
damages, if any, suffered by any party as a result of decisions made or actions based on these
course slides for any other purpose than that for which it was intended.