Okuzeka
Software Engineering vocabulary · Data Structures and Algorithms

Stack

Meaning in software engineering, with examples

/stæk/nounCommon term

In software engineering, stack means: A data structure where the last item added is the first one taken out (LIFO), like a pile of plates. You push items onto the top and pop them off the top.

In Turkish: yığın, yığıt

How it is used

Used for undo features, matching brackets and tracking function calls (the call stack). A 'stack overflow' happens when the call stack runs out of space, often because of endless recursion. In 'tech stack' or 'full stack', the word means a set of technologies instead.

Example sentences

  1. Use a stack to check whether every opening bracket has a matching closing one.

  2. The recursion went too deep and we hit a stack overflow.

Common collocations

  • push onto the stack
  • pop from the stack
  • call stack
  • stack overflow
  • queueA data structure where the first item added is the first one taken out (FIFO), like people waiting in line. Also a system that holds tasks or messages until they are processed.
  • data structureA way of organizing data in memory, such as an array, list, tree or hash map, so that certain operations are fast and simple.
  • recursionA technique where a function solves a problem by calling itself on a smaller part of the same problem until it reaches a simple case.
  • stack traceA report printed when an error happens, listing the chain of function calls that led to it, with file names and line numbers.

More terms: Data Structures and Algorithms

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level: