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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>stack</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="../../jargon.css" type="text/css"/><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.61.0"/><link rel="home" href="../index.html" title="The Jargon File"/><link rel="up" href="../S.html" title="S"/><link rel="previous" href="squirrelcide.html" title="squirrelcide"/><link rel="next" href="stack-puke.html" title="stack puke"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">stack</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="squirrelcide.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">S</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="stack-puke.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="stack"/><dt xmlns="" id="stack"><b>stack</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="grammar">n.</span></dt></dt><dd><p> The set of things a person has to do in the future. One speaks of
the next project to be attacked as having risen to the top of the stack.
&#8220;<span class="quote">I'm afraid I've got real work to do, so this'll have to be pushed
way down on my stack.</span>&#8221; &#8220;<span class="quote">I haven't done it yet because every
time I pop my stack something new gets pushed.</span>&#8221; If you are
interrupted several times in the middle of a conversation, &#8220;<span class="quote">My stack
overflowed</span>&#8221; means &#8220;<span class="quote">I forget what we were talking
about.</span>&#8221; The implication is that more items were pushed onto the
stack than could be remembered, so the least recent items were lost. The
usual physical example of a stack is to be found in a cafeteria: a pile of
plates or trays sitting on a spring in a well, so that when you put one on
the top they all sink down, and when you take one off the top the rest
spring up a bit. See also <a href="../P/push.html"><i class="glossterm">push</i></a> and
<a href="../P/pop.html"><i class="glossterm">pop</i></a>.</p><p>(<i class="citetitle">The Art of Computer Programming</i>, second
edition, vol. 1, p. 236) says:</p><div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote"><p>Many people who realized the
importance of stacks and queues independently have given other names to
these structures: stacks have been called push-down lists, reversion
storages, cellars, nesting stores, piles, last-in-first-out
(&#8220;<span class="quote">LIFO</span>&#8221;) lists, and even yo-yo lists!
</p></blockquote></div><p>The term &#8220;<span class="quote">stack</span>&#8221; was originally coined by Edsger
Dijkstra, who was quite proud of it.</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="squirrelcide.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../S.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="stack-puke.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">squirrelcide </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> stack puke</td></tr></table></div></body></html>