Question

What does LIFO mean?

Short answer

Provide a real world example and its application in computer science. Answer: LIFO stands for "Last In, First Out". It is a method used for organizing and managing items, data, or other objects in a specific order. In LIFO, the most recently added item is the first one to be removed. A real world example is a stack of books where the top book is removed first. In computer science, LIFO is used in data structures like stacks where new items are added (push operation) and removed (pop operation) from the same end, known as the "top" of the stack.

Step-by-step solution

Understanding LIFO

LIFO stands for "Last In, First Out". It is a method used for organizing and managing items, data or other objects in a specific order. In LIFO, when a new item is added to the collection, it is placed on top, and when an item is removed, it is always the one on the top that is taken out first.

Real World Example

Imagine a stack of books. When you place a new book on top of the stack, the book on the very top is the most recently added one. In LIFO, when you need to remove a book, you would always remove the book on the top first.

LIFO in Computer Science

In computer science, LIFO is often used in data structures like stacks. A stack is a collection of items where new items are added (push operation) and removed (pop operation) from the same end, known as "top" of the stack. This ensures that the most recently added item is always the first one to be removed, which is the essence of the LIFO method.