What is the main difference between ARRAY and STACK?
Answer:
Stack follows LIFO. Thus the item that is first entered would be the last removed. In array the items can be entered or removed in any order. Basically each member access is done using index and no strict order is to be followed here to remove a particular element .Array may be multi-dimensional or one dimensional but stack should be one-dimensional. Size of array is fixed, while stack can be grow or shrink. We can say stack is dynamic data structure.
Here are the main differences between arrays and stacks:
| Array | Stack |
|---|---|
| A collection of elements of the same data type | A collection of elements of the same data type |
| Has a fixed size, determined at declaration | Has a dynamic size that grows and shrinks as elements are pushed and popped |
| Elements are stored sequentially in contiguous memory locations | Elements are stored in a LIFO (last-in, first-out) order |
| Elements can be accessed directly by their index | Elements can only be accessed at the top of the stack |
| Can be used to implement other data structures such as queues and hash tables | Typically used as a data structure itself for applications such as undo/redo functionality or recursion |
In summary, arrays have a fixed size and allow for direct element access, while stacks have a dynamic size and prioritize the most recently added element for access.
Related Articles:
This section is dedicated exclusively to Questions & Answers. For an in-depth exploration of Data Structure, click the links and dive deeper into this subject.
Join Our telegram group to ask Questions
Click below button to join our groups.