Vietnam National University of HCMC

International University
School of Computer Science and Engineering

Data Structures and Algorithms

★ Stack & Queue ★

Dr Vi Chi Thanh - vcthanh@hcmiu.edu.vn

https://vichithanh.github.io
 Week by week topics (*)

1. Overview, DSA, OOP and Java 7. Advanced Sorting

2. Arrays 8. Binary Tree
3. Sorting 9. Hash Table
4. Queue, Stack 10.Graphs
5. List 11.Graphs Adv.
6. Recursion Final-Exam
Mid-Term 10 LABS

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 2
 What is a stack?

• A stack is a linear data structure that can be accessed only at one of

its ends for storing and retrieving data
• A stack is a Last In, First Out (LIFO) data structure
• Anything added to the stack goes on the “top” of the stack
• Anything removed from the stack is taken from the “top” of the stack
• Things are removed in the reverse order from that in which they
were inserted

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 3
 Stack - Introduction
• Accessible item ?
• Last inserted item
• Last in, first out (LIFO)
• Operations
• Push ?
• Pop ?
• Peek / Top?
• Properties
• Stack Overflow (Full)
• Stack Underflow (Empty)

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 4
 Operations on a stack

• The following operations are needed to properly manage a stack:

• clear() — Clear the stack
• isEmpty() — Check to see if the stack is empty
• push(el) — Put the element el on the top of the stack
• pop() — Take the topmost element from the stack
• top() — Return the topmost element in the stack without removing it

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 5
 Stack info

• Info must be managed?

• Stack size (is full?)
• Number of element (is empty?)
• Top item (accessible item)

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 6
 Operations – Push (visual demo)

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 7
 Operations – Pop (visual demo)

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 8
 Operations – Peek (visual demo)

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 9
 Check Stack?
Empty Full

• top = ? • top = ?
• -1 • maxSize - 1

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 10
 Stack Exceptions

• Attempting the execution of an operation of ADT may sometimes

cause an error condition, called an exception
• Exceptions are said to be “thrown” by an operation that cannot be
executed
• In the Stack ADT, operations pop and top cannot be performed if
the stack is empty
• Attempting the execution of pop or top on an empty stack throws an
StackEmptyException.
FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 11
 Applications of Stacks

• Stacks are used for:

• Any sort of nesting (such as parentheses)
• Evaluating arithmetic expressions (and other sorts of expression)
• Implementing function or method calls
• Keeping track of previous choices (as in backtracking)
• Keeping track of choices yet to be made (as in creating a maze)
• Undo sequence in a text editor.
• Auxiliary data structure for algorithms
• Component of other data structures

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 12
 Stack in computer memory
• How does a stack in memory actually work?
• Each time a method is called, an activation record (AR) is
allocated for it. This record usually contains the following
information:
• Parameters and local variables used in the called method.
• A dynamic link, which is a pointer to the caller's activation record.
• Return address to resume control by the caller, the address of the
caller’s instruction immediately following the call.
• Return value for a method not declared as void. Because the size of
the activation record may vary from one call to another, the
returned value is placed right above the activation record of the
caller.

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 13
 Stack in computer memory

• How does a stack in memory actually work?

• Each new activation record is placed on the top of the run-time stack
• When a method terminates, its activation record is removed from the
top of the run-time stack
• Thus, the first AR placed onto the stack is the last one removed

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 14
 Array-based Stack - 1

• A simple way of implementing the Stack ADT (abstract data type)

uses an array
• We add elements from left to right
• A variable top keeps track of the index of the top element

…
S
0 1 2 top
Array-based stack

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 15
 Array-based Stack - 2

• The array storing the stack elements may become full

• A push operation will then throw a FullStackException
• Limitation of the array-based implementation
• Not intrinsic to the Stack ADT

…
S
0 1 2 top
Array-based stack may become full

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 16
 Array implementation of a stack
class ArrayStack { public boolean isEmpty() {
protected Object[] a; int top, max; return(top==-1);
public ArrayStack() { }
this(50); public boolean isFull() {
} return(top==max-1);
public ArrayStack(int max1) { }
max = max1; public void clear() {
a = new Object[max]; top=-1;
top = -1; }
} public void push(Object x) {
protected boolean grow() { if(isFull() && !grow()) return;
int max1 = max + max/2; a[++top] = x;
Object[] a1 = new Object[max1]; }
if(a1 == null) return(false); public Object top() throws EmptyStackException {
for(int i =0; i<=top; i++) { if(isEmpty()) throw new EmptyStackException();
a1[i] = a[i]; return(a[top]);
} }
a = a1; public Object pop() throws EmptyStackException {
return(true); if(isEmpty()) throw new EmptyStackException();
} Object x = a[top];
public boolean isEmpty() { top--;
return(top==-1); return(x);
} }
FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 17
 Stack - Application

• Reversing an array/ a word

100 120 150 200 250

• Delimiter Matching
• 100 * (100 – 50) ➔ Correct
• [100 * (100 – 50)] /2 ➔ Correct
• [100 * (100 – 50)} /2 ➔ Incorrect, error on }
• [100 * (100 – 50) /2 ➔ Incorrect, error on [
• (100 * (100 – 50))) /2 ➔ Incorrect, error on )

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 21
 How would you do it?

• Reversing an array

100 120 150 200 250

250
200
150
120 250 200 150 120 100
100
FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 22
 Validate expression using stack - 1
• We consider arithmetic expressions that • The following examples further illustrate
may contain various pairs of grouping this concept:
symbols, such as • Correct: ( )(( )){([( )])}
• Parentheses: “(” and “)” • Correct: ((( )(( )){([( )])}))
• Braces: “{” and “}” • Incorrect: )(( )){([( )])}
• Brackets: “[” and “]” • Incorrect: ({[ ])}
• Each opening symbol must match its • Incorrect: (
corresponding closing symbol. For
example,
• a left bracket, “[,” must match a
corresponding right bracket, “],” as in the
following expression
• [(5+x)−(y+z)].

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 23
 Validate expression using stack - 2
• An Algorithm for Matching Delimiters:
• An important task when processing arithmetic expressions is to make sure their delimiting
symbols match up correctly.
• We can use a stack to perform this task with a single left-to-right scan of the original string.
• Each time we encounter an opening symbol, we push that symbol onto the stack, and each time
we encounter a closing symbol, we pop a symbol from the stack (assuming it is not empty) and
check that these two symbols form a valid pair.
• If we reach the end of the expression and the stack is empty, then the original expression was
properly matched.
• Otherwise, there must be an opening delimiter on the stack without a matching symbol. If the
length of the original expression is n, the algorithm will make at most n calls to push and n calls
to pop.

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 24
 How would you do it?
Character Stack
Read contents
• Delimiter Matching
( (
(a * [b – c]) / d a (
* (
[ ([
b ([
- ([
c ([
] (
)
/
d
FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 25
 Matching Parentheses and HTML Tags

• Another application of matching delimiters is in the validation of markup

languages such as HTML or XML. HTML is the standard format for
hyperlinked documents on the Internet and XML is an extensible markup
language used for a variety of structured data sets.
• In an HTML document, portions of text are delimited by HTML tags. A
simple opening HTML tag has the form “<name>” and the corresponding
closing tag has the form “</name>”. For example, the <body> tag has the
matching </body> tag at the close of that document.
• Ideally, an HTML document should have matching tags, although most
browsers tolerate a certain number of mismatching tags. We can use stack
to check whether an HTML document is valid or not.
FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 26
 Stack class in Java

• A Stack class implemented in the java.util package is an extension

of class Vector to which one constructor and five methods are
added.

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 27
 Summary

• A stack is a linear data structure that can be accessed at only one of

its ends for storing and retrieving data.
• A stack is called a LIFO structure: Last in / First out.

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 28
 QUEUE

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 29
 Queue - Introduction

• Accessible item ?
• First inserted item
• First in, first out (FIFO)
• Tail / Head of queue
• Operations
• Insert / Enqueue
• Remove / Dequeue
• Properties
• Full
• Empty

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 30
 What is a queue?

• A queue is a waiting line that grows by adding elements to its end

and shrinks by taking elements from its front
• A queue is a structure in which both ends are used:
• One for adding new elements
• One for removing them
• A queue is a FIFO structure: First In/ First Out

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 31
 Queue info

• Info must be managed?

• Queue size (is full?)
• Number of element (is empty?)
• Head / tail item (accessible item)

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 32
 Queue operations

• The following operations are needed to properly manage a queue:

• clear() — Clear the queue
• isEmpty() — Check to see if the queue is empty
• enqueue(el) — Put the element el at the end of the queue
• dequeue() — Take the first element from the queue
• front() — Return the first element in the queue without removing it
• sometimes the peek() is named instead of front()
• Exceptions
• Attempting the execution of dequeue or front on an empty queue throws an
EmptyQueueException
FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 33
 Operations - Enqueue

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 34
 Operations - Dequeue

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 35
 Queue example

• enqueue(5) • dequeue()
• enqueue(3) • isEmpty()
• dequeue() • enqueue(9)
• enqueue(6) • enqueue(7)
• dequeue() • size()
• front() • enqueue(4)
• dequeue() • dequeue()
 Queue example
Operation Output Queue
enqueue(5) - (5)
enqueue(3) - (5, 3)
dequeue() 5 (3)
enqueue(6) - (3, 6)
dequeue() 3 (6)
front() 6 (6)
dequeue() 6 ()
dequeue() “error” ()
isEmpty() true ()
enqueue(9) - (9)
enqueue(7) - (9, 7)
size() 2 (9, 7)
enqueue(4) - (9, 7, 4)
dequeue() 9 (7, 4)
 Check queue

• dequeue/ peek/ front

• Empty queue?
• enqueue
• Full queue?
• Size of queue?

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 38
 Efficiency of queue

• Enqueue?
• Dequeue?
• ➔ O(1)

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 39
 Application

• Queue is used when things don’t have to be processed immediately, but

must be processed in First In First Out order. This property of Queue
makes it also useful in the following applications:
• Direct applications
• Waiting lists
• Access to shared resources (e.g., printer)
• Multiprogramming
• Indirect applications
• Auxiliary data structure for algorithms
• Component of other data structures
FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 40
 Application: Round Robin Schedulers

We can implement a round robin scheduler using a queue, Q,

by repeatedly performing the following steps:
1. e = Q.dequeue()
The Queue
2. Service element e
3. Q.enqueue(e) 1. Deque the 2. Service the 3. Enqueue the
next element next element serviced element

Shared
Service

Round Robin Schedulers

Round-robin (RR) is one of the simplest scheduling algorithms for processes in an operating system, which assigns time slices to each process
in equal portions and in circular order, handling all processes without priority. Round-robin scheduling is both simple and easy to implement,
and starvation-free. Round-robin scheduling can also be applied to other scheduling problems, such as data packet scheduling in computer
networks.
The name of the algorithm comes from the round-robin principle known from other fields, where each person takes an equal share of
something in turn
 Array-based Queue

• Use an array of size N in a circular fashion

• Two variables keep track of the first and last
f index of the front element
l index of the last element
normal configuration
Q
0 1 2 f l

wrapped-around configuration
Q
0 1 2 l f
FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 42
 Array-
based
Queue

FR I D AY , O CT O BE R 1 1 , 2 02 4 43
 Array implementation of a queue
class ArrayQueue { private boolean grow() {
protected Object [] a; int i,j;
protected int max;
protected int first, last; int max1 = max + max/2;

public ArrayQueue() { Object [] a1 = new Object[max1];

this(10);
} if(a1 == null) return(false);

public ArrayQueue(int max1) { if(last >= first)

max = max1; for(i = first; i <= last; i++) a1[i - first] = a[i];
a = new Object[max]; else {
first = last = -1; for(i = first; i < max; i++) a1[i - first] = a[i];
} i = max - first;
for(j = 0; j <= last; j++) a1[i + j]= a[j];
public boolean isEmpty() { }
return(first == -1); a = a1;
} first = 0;
last = max - 1;
public boolean isFull() { max = max1;
return((first == 0 && return(true);
last == max-1) || first == last+1); }
}
44
 Array implementation of a queue
void enqueue(Object x) { public Object dequeue() throws Exception {
if(isFull() && !grow()) return; if(isEmpty()) throw new Exception();

if(last == max-1 || last == -1) { Object x = a[first];

a[0] = x; last = 0;
if(first == -1) first = 0; if(first == last) { // only one element
} first = last = -1;}
else a[++last] = x; else
} if(first == max-1)
first = 0;
Object front() throws Exception { else
if(isEmpty()) throw new Exception(); first++;

return(a[first]); return(x);
} }

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 45
 Queue Interface in Java

• Java interface corresponding to our Queue ADT

• Requires the definition of class EmptyQueueException
• No corresponding built-in Java class
public interface Queue {
public int size();
public boolean isEmpty();
public Object front() throws EmptyQueueException;
public void enqueue(Object o);
public Object dequeue()throws EmptyQueueException;
}

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 48
 Double-Ended Queues (Deque)
• A queue-like data structure that supports insertion and deletion at both the front and
the back of the queue.
• Such a structure is called a double-ended queue, or deque, which is usually
pronounced “deck” to avoid confusion with the dequeue method of the regular queue
ADT, which is pronounced like the abbreviation “D.Q.”
• The deque abstract data type is more general than both the stack and the queue ADTs.
The extra generality can be useful in some applications.
• For example, we described a restaurant using a queue to maintain a waitlist.
Occasionally, the first person might be removed from the queue only to find that a table
was not available; typically, the restaurant will reinsert the person at the first position in
the queue. It may also be that a customer at the end of the queue may grow impatient
and leave the restaurant.

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 49
 Double-Ended Queues (Deque)
• The deque abstract data type is richer than both the stack and the queue ADTs. To
provide a symmetrical abstraction, the deque ADT is defined to support the following
update methods:
• addFirst(e): Insert a new element e at the front of the deque.
• addLast(e): Insert a new element e at the back of the deque.
• removeFirst(): Remove and return the first element of the deque (or null if the deque is empty).
• removeLast(): Remove and return the last element of the deque (or null if the deque is empty).
• Additionally, the deque ADT will include the following accessors:
• first(): Returns the first element of the deque, without removing it (or null if the deque is empty).
• last(): Returns the last element of the deque, without removing it (or null if the deque is empty).
• size(): Returns the number of elements in the deque.
• isEmpty(): Returns a boolean indicating whether the deque is empty.

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 50
 Priority queue

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 51
 Priority queue

• Head / tail
• Enqueue / Dequeue with criteria
• E.g, dequeue
• Highest value, or
• Most severe patient, …
• Ascending-priority /
descending-priority queue

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 52
 Operation

• Enqueue
• Dequeue
• Peak

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 53
 Priority queue - Enqueue

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 54
 Priority queue - Dequeue

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 55
 Priority Queue

• A priority queue can be assigned to enable a particular process, or

event, to be executed out of sequence without affecting overall
system operation
• FIFO rule is broken in these situations
• In priority queues, elements are dequeued according to their
priority and their current queue position

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 56
 Efficiency of Priority queue

• Insertion ?
• If use ARRAY: O(N)

• Deletion ?
• O(1)

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 57
 Array implementation of a priority queue
class PriorityQueue { public boolean isEmpty()
protected float [] a; int top, max; { return(top == -1);}

public PriorityQueue() { public boolean isFull()

this(50); { return(top == max-1);}
}
public void clear()
public PriorityQueue(int max1) { { top = -1;}
max = max1;
a = new float[max]; public void enqueue(float x)
top = -1; { if(isFull() && !grow()) return;
} if(top == -1)
{ a[0] = x; top = 0;
protected boolean grow() { return;
int max1 = max + max/2; }
float [] a1 = new float[max1]; int i = top;
if(a1 == null) return(false); while(i >= 0 && x < a[i])
for(int i =0; i<=top; i++) { a[i+1] = a[i];
a1[i] = a[i]; i--;
a = a1; }
return(true); a[i+1] = x; top++;
} }

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 58
 Array implementation of a priority queue

public float front() {

assert(!isEmpty());
return(a[top]);
}

public float dequeue() {

assert(!isEmpty());
float x = a[top];
top--;
return(x);
}

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 59
 Question

One difference between a priority queue and an ordered array is that

a. the lowest-priority item cannot be extracted easily from the array as it can
from the priority queue.
b. the array must be ordered while the priority queue need not be.
c. the highest priority item can be extracted easily from the priority queue
but not from the array.
d. All of the above.

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 60
 Questions

Which of the following best describes the Last-In-First-Out (LIFO)

principle in a stack?
• a) The first element added to the stack is the first element removed.
• b) The last element added to the stack is the first element removed.
• c) Elements in the stack are removed in random order.
• d) Elements in the stack are removed in ascending order.

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 61
 Questions

Suppose you have a stack containing the elements [10, 20, 30, 40,
50], and you perform the following operations in sequence:
push(60), pop(), push(70), push(80), and pop(). What will be the
content of the stack after these operations?
• a) [10, 20, 30, 40, 50]
• b) [10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70]
• c) [10, 20, 30, 40, 70]
• d) [10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 70]

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 62
 Questions

In a queue, which operation adds an element to the back (end) of

the queue?
• a) Dequeue
• b) Front
• c) Enqueue
• d) Rear

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 63
 Questions

Suppose you have a queue containing the elements [10, 20, 30, 40,
50], and you perform the following operations in sequence:
enqueue(60), dequeue(), enqueue(70), enqueue(80), and dequeue().
What will be the content of the queue after these operations?
a) [10, 20, 30, 40, 50]
b) [20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80]
c) [30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80]
d) [50, 60, 70, 80]

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 64
 Summary

• A queue is a waiting line that grows by adding elements to its end and shrinks
by taking elements from its front.
• A queue is a FIFO structure: First in / First out.
• In queuing theory, various scenarios are analysed, and models are built that use
queues for processing requests or other information in a predetermined
sequence (order).
• A priority queue can be assigned to enable a particular process, or event, to be
executed out of sequence without affecting overall system operation.
• In priority queues, elements are dequeued according to their priority and their
current queue position.

FR I D AY , 1 1 O CT O BE R 2 0 24 65
 Vietnam National University of HCMC
International University
School of Computer Science and Engineering

THANK YOU

Dr Vi Chi Thanh - vcthanh@hcmiu.edu.vn

https://vichithanh.github.io