People standing in a queue to pay the electricity bill is a real-world example of a queue.īoth the above-mentioned stack and queue are non-primitive abstract data structures that are defined as a collection of elements organized in order but based on different operating principles. The collection of plates placed one over the other is a real-world example of the stack. The queue can be considered as a horizontal linear collection. Stacks can be considered as a vertical linear collection. Producer consumer problems are solved using a queue as the underlying data structure. The stack can be used to solve problems like pre-order, post-order and in-order traversal of a binary tree. The queue is a sequential data structure and is used to solve problems involving sequential processing. The stack data structure is a recursive data structure and is used in solving problems based on recursion. Queue data structure requires maintaining two pointers, pointing to the rear end and pointing to the front end. Only one pointer is maintained in the Stack data structure, which is pointing to the top element of the stack. Insert operation in the queue is called enqueue.ĭelete operation in the queue is called dequeue. Insert operation is stack is called Push. Insertion and deletion of elements are carried out from different ends in the queue. Insertion and deletion of elements take place from only one end in the stack. The queue is a linear data structure in which elements are inserted from one end called a rear end and deleted from the other end called the front end and is based on FIFO (First In First Out) principle. The stack is a linear data structure in which elements are inserted and deleted from only one end called top and is based on LIFO (Last in First Out) principle. The queue is also implemented on top of basic data structures like an array or linked list. The stack is implemented on top of basic data structures like an array or linked list. The queue is also an abstract data type and a linear data structure. The stack is an abstract data type and linear data structure. Here is a comparison table showing similarities between stack and queue:

The collection of plates placed one over the other is a real-world example of a stack, whereas people standing in a queue to pay an electricity bill is a real-world example of the queue.

Stacks are seen as a vertical linear collection, whereas queue can be seen as a horizontal linear collection of elements.

The stack data structure can be used to solve problems like reversing a string, whereas the queue can be used to implement a blocking queue that ensures thread safety.

The stack can be used to solve problems like pre-order, post-order and in-order traversal of the binary tree, which are based on recursion, whereas queue can be used to solve problems like producer-consumer problem involving sequential processing of underlying data.

The stack data structure is a recursive data structure and is used in solving problems based on recursion, whereas queue is a sequential data structure and is used to solve problems involving sequential processing.

In the stack’s case, only one pointer is maintained, whereas, in the queue, we require two pointers.

Delete operation is stack is called pop whereas delete operation in the queue is called dequeue.Insert operation is stack is called a push, whereas insert operation in the queue is called enqueue.Unlike stack, the queue is based on FIFO (First In First Out) principle, which means elements inserted first are removed first. On the other hand, Queue is also a linear data structure in which elements are inserted from one end called a rear end and deleted from the other end called the front end.

The stack is a linear data structure in which elements are inserted and deleted from only one end called top and is based on LIFO (Last in First Out) principle, which means an element inserted last will be removed first.The following are key points of difference between stack and queue:

A data stack vs queue