Concepts

Stack

Also Known As LIFO Stack

Data Structure

Citation Formats

General Reference

Computing Atlas. "Stack." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://computing.interactiveatlas.org/concepts/stack-data-structure.

APA Style

Computing Atlas. (n.d.). Stack. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://computing.interactiveatlas.org/concepts/stack-data-structure

BibTeX

@misc{computingatlas-stack,
  author = {Computing Atlas},
  title = {Stack},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://computing.interactiveatlas.org/concepts/stack-data-structure},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

A stack is an abstract data type representing a collection of elements with two principal operations, push, which adds an element, and pop, which removes the most recently added element, following last in first out ordering. Access to elements below the top requires removing the ones above them first.

Facts

Disputed

Origin Year

1955 1

Klaus Samelson and Friedrich L. Bauer of the Technical University of Munich proposed the concept, calling it Operationskeller, in 1955 and filed a patent in 1957, but Charles Leonard Hamblin independently described a similar idea in 1954, and Wilhelm Kammerer developed related ideas in 1958; there is no single settled inventor or date.

Core Principle

Strict last in first out ordering, with additions and removals confined to one end, the top, enabling efficient function call management and expression evaluation. 1

Cross-Tradition Connections