What is a practical use of a stack in parsing expressions?
Practice Questions
Q1
What is a practical use of a stack in parsing expressions?
To store operands
To evaluate postfix expressions
To manage memory allocation
To sort elements
Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions
What is a practical use of a stack in parsing expressions?
Step 1: Understand what a stack is. A stack is a data structure that follows the Last In, First Out (LIFO) principle, meaning the last item added is the first one to be removed.
Step 2: Learn about postfix expressions. In postfix notation, operators come after their operands. For example, '3 4 +' means '3 + 4'.
Step 3: When evaluating a postfix expression, you read it from left to right.
Step 4: Use the stack to hold numbers (operands) as you encounter them in the expression.
Step 5: When you encounter an operator (like +, -, *, or /), pop the required number of operands off the stack (usually two for binary operators).
Step 6: Perform the operation using the popped operands.
Step 7: Push the result of the operation back onto the stack.
Step 8: Continue this process until you have read the entire expression.
Step 9: The final result will be the only number left in the stack.
