Advantages and Disadvantages of Stack | List of All Advantages and Disadvantages of Stack and Queues

Advantages and Disadvantages of Stack: In the world of computer science, a stack is an abstract data type that serves as a collection of elements, with two primary operations: Push and Pop.

Stack is a type of linear data structure that follows a particular order in which the operations are to be performed. The order may be FILO (first in, last out) or LIFO (last in, first out).

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The stack can be understood with a real-life example, such as plates stacked over one another in the canteen. The plate at the top is the first one to be removed, i.e., the plate placed at the lowermost position remains in the stack for the longest amount of time. So, we can see that it follows the LIFO (last-in, first-out) or FILO (first in, last out) order.

• Advantages of Stack
• Disadvantages of Stack
• Comparison Table for Advantages & Disadvantages of Stack
• FAQs on Pros & Cons of Stack

What is Stack? Advantages and Disadvantages of Stack 2021

Stack is a linear data structure that obeys the LIFO (last in, first out) principle. It contains only one top pointer that points to the topmost element of the stack. Whenever an element gets added to the stack, it is added on the top of the stack, and this element can be deleted only from the stack. In other words, a stack acts as a container in which insertion and deletion can be done from the only end known as the top of the stack.

If we consider a linear data structure or a sequential collection, the push and pop operations only take place at the one end of the structure, known as the top of the stack. This particular data structure makes it possible to implement a stack as a singly linked list and a pointer to the top element. A stack can be implemented to have a bounded capacity. If the stack is full or complete and does not contain enough space to accept an entity to be pushed, the stack is considered to be in a state of overflow. The pop operation is to remove an item from the top of the stack.

The two primary principal operations of a stack are:

1. Push: that adds an element to the collection.
2. Pop: that removes the most newly added element that was still not removed.

Push Operation

The steps involved in the PUSH operation are listed here:

• Prior to inserting an element in the stack, we need to check whether the stack is full or not. If we attempt to insert the element in a stack, which is full, the overflow condition takes place.
• While we initialize a stack, we set the top value as -1 to check if the stack is empty.
• While 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.
• Then the elements will be inserted until we reach the max size of the stack.

Pop Operation

The steps followed in the POP operation are listed here:

• Prior to deleting the element from the stack, we check whether the stack is empty. If we attempt to delete the element from the empty stack, the underflow condition takes place.
• If the stack is not empty, we need first to access the element pointed at the top.
• After the pop operation is performed, the top is decremented by 1, i.e., top=top-1.

Common Stack Operations

The following are some everyday operations implemented on the stack:

1. push(): The operation of inserting an element in a stack is known as a push. If the stack is full or complete, then the overflow condition takes place.
2. pop(): The operation of deleting an element in a stack is known as a pop. When the stack is empty, it reflects that no element exists in the stack. This state is called the underflow state.
3. isFull(): It helps to determine whether the stack is filled or not.
4. isEmpty(): It helps to determine whether the stack is empty or not.
5. peek(): It is used to return the element at the given position.
6. count(): It is used to return the total number of elements available in a stack.
7. change(): It is used to change the element at the given position.
8. display(): It is used to print all the elements available in the stack

Advantages of Stack

The advantages of using stack are listed below:

1. Efficient data management: Stack helps you manage the data in a LIFO (last in, first out) method, which is not possible with a Linked list and array.
2. Efficient management of functions: When a function is called, the local variables are stored in a stack, and it is automatically destroyed once returned.
3. Control over memory: Stack allows you to control how memory is allocated and deallocated.
4. Smart memory management: Stack automatically cleans up the object.
5. Not easily corrupted: Stack does not get corrupted easily; hence it is more secure and reliable.
6. Does not allow resizing of variables: Variables cannot be resized.

Disadvantages of Stack

The disadvantages of using stack are listed below:

1. Limited memory size: Stack memory is very limited.
2. Chances of stack overflow: Creating too many objects on the stack can increase the risk of stack overflow.
3. Random access is not possible: In a stack, random accessing the data is not possible.
4. Unreliable: When variable storage will get overwritten, it will sometimes leads to undefined behaviour of the function or program.
5. Undesired termination: The stack will fall outside of the memory area, which might lead to an abnormal termination.

Comparison Table for Advantages & Disadvantages of Stack

Stack is one of the essential components of data structures to know, and it is extensively used in the computer science industry. Understanding all the advantages and disadvantages of the stack discussed in this article is essential to understand the implementation and have strong knowledge on this topic.

FAQs on Pros & Cons of Stack

Question 1.
Why is stack called ADT?

Answer:
Stack is an abstract data type because it hides its implementation, like using an array or linked list. But it organizes data for efficient management and retrieval, so it has a data structure also.

Question 2.
What are the applications of the stack?

Answer:
The following are the various applications of the stack in data structure:

• Evaluation of Arithmetic Expressions.
• Delimiter Checking.
• Reversing of Data.
• Processing Function Calls.

Question 3.
How is a stack different from an array?

Answer:
Array and stack are two common linear data structures. The main difference between array and stack is that an array stores elements of the same type while a stack stores elements of different types.