Book Image

Learning JavaScript Data Structures and Algorithms - Third Edition

Book Image

Learning JavaScript Data Structures and Algorithms - Third Edition

Overview of this book

A data structure is a particular way of organizing data in a computer to utilize resources efficiently. Data structures and algorithms are the base of every solution to any programming problem. With this book, you will learn to write complex and powerful code using the latest ES 2017 features. Learning JavaScript Data Structures and Algorithms begins by covering the basics of JavaScript and introduces you to ECMAScript 2017, before gradually moving on to the most important data structures such as arrays, queues, stacks, and linked lists. You will gain in-depth knowledge of how hash tables and set data structures function as well as how trees and hash maps can be used to search files in an HD or represent a database. This book serves as a route to take you deeper into JavaScript. You’ll also get a greater understanding of why and how graphs, one of the most complex data structures, are largely used in GPS navigation systems in social networks. Toward the end of the book, you’ll discover how all the theories presented in this book can be applied to solve real-world problems while working on your own computer networks and Facebook searches.
Table of Contents (22 chapters)
Title Page
Dedication
Packt Upsell
Contributors
Preface
Index

Chapter 4. Stacks

We learned in the previous chapter how to create and use arrays, which are the most common type of data structure in computer science. As we learned, we can add and remove elements from an array at any index desired. However, sometimes we need some form of data structure where we have more control over adding and removing items. There are two data structures that have some similarities to arrays, but which give us more control over the addition and removal of elements. These data structures are stacks and queues.

In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:

  • Creating our own JavaScript data structure library
  • The stack data structure
  • Adding elements to a stack
  • Popping elements from a stack
  • How to use the Stack class
  • The decimal to binary problem