Different applications of stacks and queues

Stacks and queues are two ways to store data. Stacks are like a pile of plates, where you can only add plates to the top of the pile and only remove plates from the top of the pile. Queues are like a line of people waiting to buy tickets, where you can only add people to the back of the line and only remove people from the front of the line.

Stacks

Stacks are used for things like undo and redo, where you can go back to the previous version of something. They are also used for backtracking, where you try different solutions to a problem and then go back if the solution doesn’t work.

Queues

Queues are used for things like lines of people waiting to be served, where you only serve the people at the front of the line. They are also used for scheduling tasks, where you only execute the tasks that are at the front of the queue.

Examples

• A text editor could use a stack to store the previous versions of a document.
• A maze solver could use a stack to explore all possible paths through a maze.
• A web server could use a queue to store requests from clients.
• A task scheduler could use a queue to schedule tasks to be executed.