Stacks and Queues
Queue from Two Stacks
Implement queue behavior with an input stack and an output stack.
Algorithm
The replay uses the same three values in every language, so this Kotlin DSA implementation can be compared directly with the rest of the DSA track.
Basic Implementation
basic.kt
import java.util.ArrayDeque
fun render(values: List<Int>) = values.joinToString(" -> ")
fun main() {
val inStack = ArrayDeque<Int>()
val outStack = ArrayDeque<Int>()
for (value in listOf(10, 20, 30)) inStack.addLast(value)
while (!inStack.isEmpty()) outStack.addLast(inStack.removeLast())
val removed = mutableListOf<Int>()
while (!outStack.isEmpty()) removed.add(outStack.removeLast())
println(render(removed))
}
Complexity
- Time: O(1) amortized per operation
- Space: O(n)
Implementation notes
- Keep the explicit stack/queue operations. Library shortcuts that only produce the final list hide the data-structure behavior this lesson is meant to replay.
- The final output uses a deterministic
a -> b -> cformat for cross-language comparison.
input stack
Enqueue pushes new values onto the input stack.
output stack
When the output stack is empty, transferring all input values reverses them into dequeue order.