Glossary · Phase 7 · Software engineering
Stack
A pile of items you add to and take from at the top only: last in, first out.
A stack is like a pile of plates: you add to the top and take from the top. A Python list does this well with
appendandpop. Undo buttons are stacks, and so is the call stack that keeps track of which function called which.
Try it now
Each new node points at the old head, so adding at the front never moves anything. Notice the printed order: the last item added comes first.
Learn it properly
Core data structures · Arrays, linked lists, stacks, queues and the hash table behind every dict. About 35 minutes.
Other terms from the same lesson
- hash table: A structure that turns a key into a slot number, so it can store and find values in about one step. Dicts and sets use one.
- linked list: A chain of small objects, each holding one item and a pointer to the next one.
- queue: A line of items where the first one added is the first one removed: first in, first out.
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